AMU protests: Students block 4 entry gates, proctor says 'outsider' detained from hostel

ALIGARH: Tensions escalated at Aligarh Muslim University after protesting students blocked all four entry gates to the campus amid an agitation over holding students' union elections, officials said. The situation had turned tense on Saturday evening after protesters allegedly tried to enter the proctor's office following reports that police had detained four students from a hostel in MM Hall.

The proctor claimed that one person was detained after a police raid at the hostel to act against "external elements", stressing that the university had no role in the raid. The gates which were blocked on Saturday evening were reopened by university security personnel early Sunday morning, they said.

The protest, which also includes an indefinite hunger strike by suspended postgraduate student Yasir Fahad, began on September 21. The protesters are demanding elections to the students' union that have not been held for nearly eight years. AMU Proctor Naved Khan said police raided the hostel based on information that some external elements were staying there.

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"Three of them were bona fide students, while the fourth was an outsider whose credentials were dubious and who was wanted in an earlier case," Khan said. The three students were released, while the fourth was taken into custody and subsequently sent to jail, he said. Khan rejected allegations that university authorities had asked police to detain students to disrupt the ongoing protest , terming the claim "totally false".

He said police acted on their own inputs about the presence of alleged criminal elements attempting to take advantage of the situation on the campus. Tensions also rose after concerns were raised over the health of student Yasir Fahad, who has been on an indefinite hunger strike for the past 12 days demanding restoration of the students' union, which has remained defunct for more than seven years.

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Sunday backed the students' demand for union elections and urged the university authorities to immediately initiate a dialogue with the protesters. AMU Teachers' Association (AMUTA) secretary Ashraf Mateen wrote to Vice Chancellor Naima Khatoon seeking immediate steps to hold elections for teachers' representatives to the University Court, Executive Council and Academic Council, saying the elections were long overdue.