‘Was just trying to pass water’: Jamia detentions and campus shutdown deepen standoff over union

The security presence outside Jamia Millia Islamia is sparser, but each entrance is guarded. There is a police warning and loudspeakers outside. Classes continue online. Inside, a sit-in that entered its 17th day on Wednesday has five students on hunger strike. Outside, students say all campus activities are nearly shut and even food and water are not being let in.

It was around the gates, on Monday evening, that Delhi Police detained three people: Niranjan KS, a member of the All India Revolutionary Students Organisation (AIRSO); Munna Qureshi, a Jamia student pursuing a certificate course in Yoga Studies; and Arbaaz Mewati, a Jamia alumnus now studying law at Delhi University. The next day, the Special Executive Magistrate court in Amar Colony sent all three to three days of judicial custody under kalandra proceedings, invoked under Sections 126 and 170 of the BNSS.

A kalandra is a police report outlining facts and circumstances that, in the police’s view, warrant preventive action by an Executive Magistrate. Unlike an FIR, which records information about an alleged criminal offence, it is intended to initiate preventive proceedings. 

While Mewati told Newslaundry that he was detained for trying to provide water to students inside the campus, police diary entries about the three men alleged that they were creating a disturbance and provoking people. Their lawyers have said that the SEM court did not take their arguments on record and that no clear reasons were given for sending them to judicial custody.

The demand to restore the Jamia Millia Islamia Students’ Union (JMISU), which has not held elections since 2005, has turned into a standoff. The administration issued a notification on Monday saying polls will be held within 15 days of approving the union’s constitution; but protesters want fixed dates for both. Students and lawyers now say the university and the police are using bans, notices, hostel pressure, cut-off access and detentions to curb dissent on campus. 

‘I was just trying to pass water to the students’

As he was being taken away in a police vehicle, Mewati told Newslaundry, “I was just trying to pass water to the students inside; they detained me.”

Mewati’s friend, Sultan Kasana, said that he and Qureshi were providing water to students inside the campus when the police detained them.

According to the General Diary entries concerning Qureshi and Mewati, the two allegedly provoked people and attempted to gather a crowd outside Gate No. 7 of the university, creating a disturbance and trying to enter the campus despite not being students.

Niranjan, meanwhile, was allegedly detained from Ghaffar Manzil. According to the General Diary entry, an on-duty sub-inspector reached the university’s outer boundary wall near the Ghafoor Nagar Parking in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi, where Niranjan, 24, an alumnus, was allegedly found jumping over the wall from inside the campus.

The entry alleged that Niranjan raised “Delhi Police Murdabad” slogans, provoked students and passers-by, and created a disturbance. It further stated that he refused to comply with warnings, following which the SHO directed his detention. It also mentioned that Niranjan had previously been named in another FIR, registered near the university, over alleged property defacement on campus last year.

Lawyers say natural justice was violated

Delhi High Court Advocate MB Javed Iqbal, who represented the three detainees, told Newslaundry that the court did not take on record the arguments made by the lawyers representing the trio. 

“This is a clear violation of the Natural Justice Principle. We were not even apprised of a copy of the MLC by the prosecution,” Iqbal said. 

The detentions came amid a protest demanding the restoration of the Jamia Millia Islamia Students’ Union (JMISU), which entered its 16th day on Tuesday, with students refusing to call off their agitation despite the university’s decision to hold elections within 15 days of approving the union’s constitution.

The protesting students have demanded a definite date for the polls, which have not been held since 2005, as well as a clear timeline for approving the constitution. Classes will continue online and the university has announced that the second mid-term semester examinations will be conducted online.

A meeting between the protesters and the administration on Sunday night raised hopes of a resolution. The agreement signed by both sides said the protest would be called off if the demands were met, and that a public apology would be issued by the protesting students for “defamatory” statements made against the university.

Five students had been on a hunger strike. Three of them – Jasim Ali Khan, Raihan Khan and Rida – broke their fasts. The other two, Rehan Khan and Ebin Basil, continued their fast, saying that not all their demands had been met. By Tuesday afternoon, three more students had joined the hunger strike: Abuzar of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Altaf and Ritik, bringing the total now on hunger strike to five.

Lubaib Basheer, a member of the Fraternity Movement and a PhD scholar at the university who was part of the delegation that met the administration on October 27, told Newslaundry, “A panel committee has been formed which has taken the students’ demands to the Vice-Chancellor. We have told them that the Constitution needs to be drafted and approved by December 20 and elections have to be done by February 6.” 

Basheer said the earlier agreement between the administration and the protesters had been signed hurriedly, with only some protesters agreeing to it. A video uploaded on the Instagram account of Jasim Ali Khan, who ended his hunger strike, shows the signing of the agreement, with commotion in the background over whether to accept it.

Basheer also described the meeting to Newslaundry. “There was pressure from the administration side to sign the notice stating that all our demands were met. However, a key point such as a fixed timeline for everything related to the elections has not been taken into consideration,” he said. He said the administration had noted that all the demands would be included in the final order, but this did not happen.

Heavy security around the campus

With Section 163 of the BNSS imposed in the area on Tuesday, announcements over loudspeakers warning people about the situation and addressing journalists continued throughout the afternoon in the vicinity of the campus. Delhi Police and central armed police forces guarded every gate of the university.

The security presence was comparatively sparse on Sunday night, when negotiations between the administration and the protesters were underway.

Students gathered around the university’s boundaries said that entry into and exit from the campus had been completely halted. They also said they were still not being allowed to bring food and water inside.

Notices, campus bans and pressure to leave hostels

Basheer also said that some students had been served campus bans and show-cause notices because of the protest. He said the protesters were demanding that the university revoke them. “I got a show-cause notice, as well,” he said.

Rehan Khan was also served a notice. The notice, accessed by Newslaundry, stated that disciplinary and legal action would be taken against the recipient if they did not clear the protest site.

It also alleged that students sitting inside the Departments of Political Science and Economics, where the sit-in protest had shifted, had damaged property. The notice further stated that former Jamia students were also present at the site.

Students also said the pressure had extended to the hostels. Hamad, a Jamia student, told Newslaundry, “Informally, students are being told to leave the hostel and go home. There is no official order.”

Ribinsha, another student, told Newslaundry that identity cards were checked on the morning of October 27 and students were asked whether they were staying in the hostels. “They are trying to scare students so the crowds are less inside the campus,” she said.

The Times of India and Hindustan Times also reported similar allegations from students.

Newslaundry has reached out to the university administration for its response. We have also reached out to the Delhi Police for comment. The story will be updated once a response is received.

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