AMU gates reopened after students protest over union elections and hostel raid

Aligarh Muslim University’s four entry gates were reopened on October 4 after students blocked them during an escalating protest over the holding of students’ union elections. The gates had been blocked on the evening of October 3. The protest followed reports that police had detained four students from a hostel in MM Hall, prompting protesters to allegedly try to enter the proctor’s office.

AMU proctor Naved Khan said police had raided the hostel after receiving information that external elements were staying there. He said three of those detained were bona fide students and were released, while a fourth person was an outsider whose credentials were dubious and who was wanted in an earlier case. Khan said the fourth person was taken into custody and later sent to jail.

He rejected allegations that university authorities had asked police to detain students to disrupt the protest, describing that claim as false. The agitation began on September 21 and includes an indefinite hunger strike by suspended postgraduate student Yasir Fahad. Protesters are demanding elections to the students’ union, which they say have not been held for nearly eight years.

Concerns have also been raised about Fahad’s health after he had spent 12 days on hunger strike. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad backed the demand for elections and urged university authorities to open dialogue with the protesters. Separately, AMU Teachers’ Association secretary Ashraf Mateen wrote to Vice-Chancellor Naima Khatoon seeking elections for teachers’ representatives to the University Court, Executive Council and Academic Council.

He said those elections were overdue.