New Delhi, Oct 26 Jamia Millia Islamia on Monday issued a final notice to a first-semester student on hunger strike over student union elections, directing him to immediately vacate the university’s north campus and warning of disciplinary and legal action in case of non-compliance.
Rehan Khan is one of the two students who continued their hunger strike on Monday despite the university announcing that student union elections would be held within 15 days of approval of the union’s constitution.
Khan said earlier in the day that the university had failed to give a deadline by which the constitution would be approved, and asked for a fixed timeline for the same.
In a notice dated October 26, the university’s chief proctor said the competent authority approved the protesters’ charter of demands in-principle and the decision was communicated through a university order issued at 5.09 am.
The notice said most protesters had subsequently ended their hunger strike, called off the protest and vacated the buildings housing the departments of political science and economics, as well as the sit-in site in the north campus.
However, Khan allegedly continued the sit-in and hunger strike despite a notice issued by the registrar at 4.15 am, the chief proctor said.
It further stated that a delegation of senior faculty members and university officials met Khan around 8.50 am and urged him for more than three hours to end the hunger strike and call off the protest, but he did not heed their appeal.
According to the notice, the university accused him of disregarding the university order and the mutually agreed conditions, alleging that his actions indicated an intention to keep the issue alive.
It also alleged that the continued presence of protesters in the Gulistan-e-Ghalib building, which houses the two departments, was affecting their functioning. The notice claimed that locks were broken and university property damaged, and that former students were also present on the campus.
The chief proctor directed Khan to immediately vacate the building and the sit-in site at Ghalib Lawn, along with his companions, warning that disciplinary and legal action would be initiated if they failed to comply.
(PTI News)
