Statement in Solidarity with the Protesting Students of Jamia and Against Surveillance, Repression and Suspensions

18 February 2025 | India Academic Freedom Network

India Academic Freedom Network (IAFN) stands in solidarity with the students of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Delhi in their protest against authoritarian measures on campus. We condemn the actions of the administration aimed at curbing student dissent, including forcefully detaining students at dawn and leaking their personal information. This not only violates their democratic rights but is also a violation of academic freedom.

The administration issued a show cause notice against four PhD students—Saurabh, Jyoti, Niranjan, and Fuzail—for organising a meeting in remembrance of the anti-CAA/NRC protests of December 2019 during which the Delhi Police had lathi-charged students inside JMI’s Dr. Zakir Husain Library. During the violence, one student had lost his eye, several others were injured, and the library was vandalised by the police. That the commemoration of such a serious breach of university autonomy and human rights should face disciplinary action is shocking. The students who received show cause notices were further intimidated and threatened using official bodies and disciplinary committees. This use of state and university machinery to target students who were raising their voice on campus sparked sit-in protests near the central canteen.

Tensions escalated on February 13, when 12–14 students were dragged from the protest site and detained by the Delhi Police at various police stations. As of today, more than seventeen students have received suspension letters from the university. Moreover, the manner in which the administration has dealt with the protesting students in the central canteen on February 12—cutting off electricity, water and access to washrooms—exemplifies the level of inhumane treatment that they have been known to mete out to stifle dissent.

We also condemn the administration's public display of student identities, addresses, and phone numbers. This is an unprecedented and illegal move that has put the students at heightened risk of vigilante attacks. The administration's attempts at curbing wall-writing which is an important medium for students’ political expression also point towards stifling campus democracy. It is appalling that a central university of the stature of JMI has been functioning without a faculty association (dissolved in November 2022) and a students’ union—both of which are essential bodies in the democratic functioning of a university as well as in maintaining checks on bureaucratic diktats.

The Jamia administration’s measures in the recent past undermine the freedom students ought to have in university spaces. The arbitrary use of police and private security forces to prevent students from protesting points towards a disturbing trend of administrative overreach across universities in India. Repressive tactics deployed against students expressing dissent have increased exponentially in scale over the past several years.

It is a non-negotiable aspect of democracy that the university should be protected as a space for critical thinking and dissent. IAFN, a collective of teachers and students from across universities, recognises the links between free speech, justice, and intellectual enquiry in a university, and calls for solidarity across institutions to protest and resist authoritarianism.

The students on indefinite dharna since February 10 have made the following demands:

● Withdrawal of disciplinary actions against protesting students including show cause notices and suspensions, against protesting students

● Cancellation of the office memorandum issued on August 29, 2022 and November 29, 2024

● End to repression of student voices and demands

● Overrule of the notice outlining punishments for peaceful assembly, political association and expression on campus

IAFN supports these demands and calls on all democratic forces in the country to express solidarity with the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and to pledge to protect academic freedom as a valued principle. The JMI should ensure academic freedom, which has long-term implications for the university, and also reconstitute the Jamia Teachers’ Association andconduct the student union elections without delay.