Five months after being suspended for protesting against the ragging, the five elected student representatives of Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) have been expelled. This move by the university administration has triggered protests across the campus.
According to the student organisation leading the demonstration, the Student Federation of India (SFI), the expelled students include Sharanya T., treasurer of the AUD student council; Subhojit, council counsellor; Shefali, SFI Delhi state committee member; and two others, Ajay and Keerthana. Another student, Nadia, also part of the state committee, had earlier been expelled by the administration.
When the national media tried contacting the university officials, the response was:
“… The university, in compliance with the Honourable High Court order, completed the enquiry following all due process. The next date of hearing is November 3. The matter is sub judice, and hence the university has no further comments.”
Ambedkar University has been in the limelight over the past few months for the expulsion of another student, Mantasha Irfan, who criticised the vice chancellor of the university for hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ram Janmabhoomi movement on the occasion of Independence Day. This incident was also followed by widespread protests across all the AUD campuses in Delhi-NCR. The students later succeeded in getting Mantasha reinstated on campus.