NEW DELHI: An agreement signed at 4 am on Monday failed to break the deadlock at Jamia Millia Islamia, as students rejected the administration’s terms. By the end of the day, the university deciding to conduct the second mid-term semester examinations online. Online classes have been extended till November 8.
By morning, celebrations over the assurance that the students’ union constitution would be formed after 15 days had given way to uncertainty. Students on hunger strike rejected all three points in the administration’s October 26 order, arguing that it offered no firm commitment on their key demands. They insisted the agitation would continue until the administration addressed their demands.
The order outlined plans to hold elections 15 days after approval of the constitution, revoke suspension and show-cause notices, and set up a committee to investigate security personnel’s actions during the protest.
Tensions escalated across the campus, with large numbers of women students coming to the forefront. Some climbed iron gates 10-12 feet high, resisting police attempts to pull them down. Students repeatedly banged the gates amid sloganeering and marched in large processions, refusing to disperse.
Protesters ran between gates, dodging police and attempting to force them open. The Ibn-e-Sina gate broke during the confrontation, while protesters pulled out a grill at Gate No. 7.
Security personnel filmed demonstrators as drones hovered over campus gates. The administration welding a gate after reports of students entering the campus through different gates over the weekend added to the tension.
More than 30 students were reportedly detained. The university administration did not publicly respond to the students’ renewed rejection of its order.
