NUSRL students resume protest amidst presence of security forces on campus

A few months ago, the students of the National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL), Ranchi had called off their protests against the maladminstration at the University in the hope that the authorities would address their concerns.

And now, the agitation has been reinstated in light of the administration’s failure to change things at NUSRL. To make matters worse, security forces have been deployed on campus to ward off the protests.

Back in April, the students were promised improvements to campus infrastructure, funds from the state government and a financial audit of the University within fifteen days.

When the students met the Vice-Chancellor in-charge Gautam Kumar Choudhary and the Assistant Registrar two days ago to claim the above, they,

“…laughed off at a few demands, gave vague answers to other questions and when confronted with evidence about inefficiency, walked out and refused to address the students…”

At this point, the students decided to resume the protests that brought the University to a standstill five months ago. As opposed to assuring the protestors, the students say that the VC “not only threatened the students with severe disciplinary action but also warned of causing damage to their careers”.

At around 2 am yesterday, the police appeared on campus to disperse the crowd of students protesting at the entrance. Despite this, the students continued their peaceful protest. To add fuel to the fire, five undergraduate students have been issued show cause notices for inciting first years to take part in the protests, even as the juniors claim to be there of their own volition.

But things did not end there.

Late last afternoon, around 100 men and women armed forces were deployed to break up the protesting students. Even this did not deter the students from continuing the protest.

And today, the agitation continues for the third day. The protesting students state by email,

“The protesting students continue to sit undaunted at the locked down main gate, braving heat, dust and the oppressive measures of the University administration.”

It remains to be seen whether the state government or the Jharkhand High Court will interfere in the matter to bring succour to the students of NUSRL.

The Vice-Chancellor in-charge was not available for comment at the time of publishing this story.

Earlier this week, students of RMLNLU Lucknow put their protests on hold, after being promised that their demands would be fulfilled.

Update: Four more students have been handed show cause notices by the Vice-Chancellor.