New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia has suspended four students and barred them from entering the campus over protests against alleged irregularities in the university’s admission process.The show-cause-cum-suspension-cum-campus-ban orders were issued by the proctor’s office through emails sent around 10:24 pm Wednesday.Those suspended are Jamia NSUI vice-president Dhruv Chauhan, general secretary Tabrez Afsar, secretary Ebin Basil and Jasmin Ali, who is not affiliated to any student organisation. Basil has been suspended for 10 days, Chauhan and Afsar for seven days each, and Ali for three days. All four have been asked to explain by Sept 1 why disciplinary action should not be taken against them.The action follows a sit-in at Central Canteen that began Monday night over alleged discrepancies in spot-round admissions. Several applicants had claimed that candidates with lower scores were allotted seats while they were excluded. The protesters demanded an inquiry with student representation, removal of the chief examination officer, admission for excluded applicants and greater transparency in the admission process, including disclosure of marks.The sit-in was cleared by security personnel early Wednesday morning. Videos of the action surfaced online. The university maintained that the protesters were removed because they were demonstrating outside the designated protest area.In its notice, the proctor’s office alleged that Basil organised an unauthorised gathering, raised politically motivated slogans, delivered speeches against the university administration and mobilised alumni and outsiders. Similar allegations were levelled against the other students.The notice further alleges that Basil and his associates refused repeated directions to disperse, “blocked the access of students to the Billing Counter and the Girls’ Common Room” and disrupted academic and administrative functioning. It also states that the university received complaints from several departments located in the area about the disturbance caused by the sit-in.The proctor’s office alleged that Basil spoke to outsiders on the phone during the protest and put the call on speaker “to sensationalise the matter”. Referring to the alleged phone conversation, the notice said: “This indicates that Ebin Basil was being governed by someone from outside the university who supposedly wanted to disrupt the teaching and learning environment of Jamia Millia Islamia.”It stated that officials had held several rounds of discussions with the protesters, but they refused to withdraw the sit-in.On Tuesday, the university released a fresh admission list, with some protesting students claiming that names of certain applicants had subsequently appeared in it. The protest, however, continued.Meanwhile, the suspended students have denied the allegations. “We raised slogans invoking Birsa Munda and Jyotirao Phule, as well as ‘Azadi’ slogans, which the administration is now categorising as political. The protest was peaceful. There was no violence, no student was provoked and no outsiders were called,” said Basil.NSUI Jamia has demanded that the suspensions and campus-ban orders be revoked.
