Students at the university have been staging protests for the past week against eviction notices issued to women students staying in its hostels.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) has suspended a PhD scholar for five days and directed him to explain why “higher punishment” should not be imposed on him for protesting outside the university’s designated protest site on Monday.
Students at the university have been staging protests for the past week against eviction notices issued to women students staying in its hostels.
In a show-cause notice issued to Neville Thomas on Monday, JMI cited repeated directions to students to refrain from holding “unauthorised gatherings” at places other than the designated site.
“You are, further, directed to explain in writing as to why higher punishment should not be awarded to you for the above misconduct by the Discipline Committee,” the notice added.
In October 2025, the university designated a spot in front of Gate 18 as the site for protests and barred demonstrations elsewhere on campus.
Mr. Thomas, who is associated with the All India Students’ Association (AISA), said the protest began at 5 p.m. and that he had received the show-cause and suspension notices by 7.45 p.m. He called the suspension “arbitrary”, reiterating that protest is “a democratic right of students”.
In August, four students were temporarily suspended for protesting outside the designated site against alleged irregularities in admissions.
The incident comes amid increasing tensions between students and the administration over what the former described as “curbs on dissent”.
Students said the October 2025 notification was aimed at taking away their “democratic right to dissent”, adding that the spot was in a corner of the campus and was not centrally located. However, a university spokesperson said, “We are not asking students not to protest; we are merely asking them to protest at the designated space, and they should understand that protesting in the middle of the university impacts academics.”
Hostel evictions
On September 18, three female students received notifications stating that they were ineligible for hostel renewal due to their academic performance.
One of the suspended students, Habeeba, said her hostel renewal was processed in July, alleging that she was being targeted for being active in protests over poor mess food quality over the past month. She received a notice to vacate her hostel room on September 18.
However, the university spokesperson said the eviction notices were based on clear hostel guidelines and had nothing to do with the protests.
Published – September 30, 2026 01:12 am IST
