NEW DELHI: The students of South Asian University – an international university under the SAARC – had been sitting in protest for more than 20 days to press their demands to increase Masters and PhD scholarships and student representation in University bodies. The University on Thursday hit back expelling two PhD students and suspending three, terming their conducy as an act of indiscipline. Scores of students from various departments are carrying out a mass hunger strike, in solidarity with the expelled and suspended students.
Meanwhile, they have decided to boycott their classes and initiate a complete form of non-cooperation from the next working day. Bhim, a PhD student of law at the university said, “We want to increase our scholarships in tandem with JRF keeping in mind the rate of inflation to facilitate and support our research.” He further complained that the internal mechanisms for addressing sexual harassment and other grievances of the students are arbitrarily constituted by the University.
The general body of students said that despite the four meetings with the administration, no positive results had been yielded yet. They said that the University barred students from entering administration floor after they staged an indefinite sit-in at the lobby area of the administration floor. The student body also alleged that the University tried to intimidate students by stationing security forces outside the college. They said that, on November 1, a police van was stationed in front of the university gate, following which a detention bus was installed the next day and on Thursday the administration called the police to bring riot cops with the intention of forcefully clearing the administration floor.
“The administration has no respect for the SAU Act 2016, Section 14 which prohibits the police from entering SAU premises,” said Keshav Sawaran, an MSc. Sociology student. The body said that they do not intend to escalate the issue and will continue with the peaceful protest until their demands are accepted.