Aligarh Muslim University students protest against takeover of land by civic authorities

NEW DELHI: A group of students in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) staged a protest march on the campus on Friday against the Nagar Nigam's takeover of 41 bighas of land belonging to the university's Riding Club. The demonstration culminated at the Sir Syed Gate, where the protesters submitted a memorandum addressed to the district magistrate to officials.

The protest was triggered by the sudden arrival of Aligarh Nagar Nigam officials at the university campus on Thursday. The officials erected a signboard marking the land as government property. The memorandum given to the district magistrate urged for an immediate and impartial inquiry into the "unilateral takeover" of the land, which the university asserts has been in its possession since 1940, having been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894.

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The AMU Teachers' Association was scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Friday evening to assess the implications of this action of the municipal authorities. In an official release, the university said it is "taking all necessary legal steps to retain the land".