Students Of Delhi University Staged Agitation Outside The Vice-Chancellor’s Office Demanding Reopening Of The Campus

Hundreds of students staged a protest outside the Delhi University Vice-Chancellor’s (VC) office on Monday, demanding immediate resumption of campus in the national capital just days after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) allowed the resumption of offline classes. The students have alleged that the Delhi Police arrested them and beat them up. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. The Students Federation of India, which organized the protest, claimed that its activists had been “brutalized” by security personnel stationed at the vice-chancellor’s office. The student union has alleged that three of its female employees were attacked by male Delhi Police officers.

Rejecting the claims, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said in a statement that at the request of DU officials, some protesters were evacuated from the VC office and released immediately after the premises were vacated.

The protesting students had put up a sign on the door of the vice-chancellor’s office saying ‘out of service’. According to the Students Union of India (SFI), which organized the agitation, more than 400 students took part in the siege.

Ankit Birpali, secretary of SFI in Hindu College, said, “The displeasure of the students is evident. You can see their faces, you can hear their voices. The vice-chancellor has to make a decision in the next couple of days, otherwise we will have to break the lock of our class. The SFI claimed that other student and teachers’ unions also supported the movement. More than 53 departments of the university have claimed to have boycotted online classes. Aarushi Sharma, a student of Miranda House, said, “Many of us are not in Delhi yet. Therefore, we could not attend the agitation called by SFI. However, we decided that steps should be taken to convey the message that the majority of students support the demand for reopening the university campus. So today we have boycotted online classes.

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The DU has not issued any notification for resumption of offline classes on campus, despite the DDMA approving the resumption of higher education institutions from Monday. The university is expected to open in a few days, officials said.

SFI has announced to launch a ‘Class on the Road’ campaign from February 9 till the commencement of the University. Abhishek, co-coordinator of SFI at DU, said, “The class administration has a message that both teachers and students want to resume offline classes. If they have any respect for us, they should open the premises immediately. On the question of resumption of DU College, Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh had said that students would be given a few days to return to campus.

“If DDMA allows 100 per cent attendance, we will definitely reopen the campus,” Singh said. But we will give our students a few days to return to campus, that is, ten days, because most of the students are from other states. We will create our own strategy.