New Delhi: As many as 11 students have been suspended by Dr B.R. Ambedkar University, Delhi, on Thursday (October 14) while they were on an indefinite sit-in against the administration, with the students alleging a crackdown on protesters and restrictions on their right to dissent.The suspensions come amid a student protest led by the All India Students’ Association (AISA), raising concerns over administrative restrictions, campus security arrangements and the university’s handling of dissent. The suspended students include elected student representatives and students enrolled in programmes across the varsity’s schools, a list included in the university’s proctorial board documents showed.One of them is Aameen, a PhD scholar in Urban Studies at the School of Global Affairs. In the order he received on October 14, the administration accused him of misbehaving with security personnel and attempting to forcibly break a gate near the dispensary at its Kashmere Gate campus on October 13.The order said that the proctorial board convened a meeting on October 14 and found Aameen’s involvement in the incident prima facie after reviewing video footage. It added that an inquiry committee has been constituted to investigate the incident, the report for which it will submit in a week. Pending inquiry, Aameen was suspended and has been barred from entering university campuses. He is, however, still allowed to appear for assessments and examinations for the current monsoon semester. Aameen is not new to such crackdowns. He was also one of the students who was on hunger strike with AISA activist Neha Bora at Jantar Mantar during the July protests against exam irregularities.The Wire reported earlier this month that the students have alleged that the administration has restricted access to food and medicines, barricaded the campus and prevented students from entering the university.‘Attack on our freedom of expression’The students at Ambedkar university had been on a strike for the last 17 days, and on the 17th day, they were suspended. Vivek, a masters’ student studying performance studies, and among those on the suspension list, told The Wire, “The university is violating its own ordinance while suspending us. Their own guidelines say that before suspending or expelling a student, the student will be called to a proctorial committee meeting and will also be given a show-cause notice. Also read: ‘Authorities Not Allowing Food Inside,’ Say Students as Protest at Ambedkar University Delhi Enters 8th DayHe alleged that the university’s proctor, Professor Satyaketu Sankrit, is behind all this. “Two days ago, the film, Jai Bhim Comrade was to be screened at the protest site, but just then guards cut off the lights, tore the screening sheet. How can they suspend 11 students for protesting? This is shameful”. “The university is unable to tolerate our voices. This is an attack on our freedom of expression,” he said.University claims situation was ‘unmanageable’The university issued two press releases, on October 13 and October 14, that it shared with The Wire as well. The administration has accused protesting students of “indiscipline”, damaging university property and engaging in physical altercations with security personnel and administrative officials at its Kashmere Gate campus. In its October 13 release, the administration said a group of students had been holding a sit-in at an “unauthorised location without prior permission”. It alleged that around 7 pm, the group damaged university property and engaged in scuffles and physical altercations with the security personnel deployed on duty. The university also claimed that when officials attempted to initiate dialogue to defuse the situation, they were subjected to abusive and inappropriate behaviour. Claiming that the situation had become “unmanageable” and citing campus safety and security, the administration approached the police. The university said that all the “genuine and permissible demands raised by the students sitting on the protest had already been positively addressed and resolved”, describing the protesting students’ conduct as “highly unfortunate and condemnable”, liable to disciplinary action.In another statement issued on October 14, the university informed that it had reviewed a preliminary report from the proctorial board, CCTV footage and other visual material before suspending the students with immediate effect for their alleged involvement in acts of indiscipline. It also said the matter had been referred to the proctorial board and disciplinary committee for a detailed inquiry and that the suspended students would be prohibited from entering university campuses during the suspension. The administration reiterated its point about the “genuine and permissible demands”, adding that violence, vandalism, misbehaviour with staff and disruption of the academic environment were unacceptable.‘Political targeting’Blessy Abraham, another suspended student who is enrolled in M.A. gender studies, said, “The majority of our council members have been suspended. False allegations against us of vandalism of campus property have surfaced. They claim to have CCTV footage of the incident, but we weren’t even there that day. This is open political targeting in complete nature to get us out of the campus.”“Apart from demanding the re-opening of an iron gate to facilitate easy passage, we were also demanding the roll-back of 2 circulars released on July 31 – one for PhD attendance and registry and event permission notice for any kind of events, screenings or protest, they want that we ask for permission. Some of our demands were met, but some were still not tended to.” Abraham told The Wire.Abraham contested the university’s claims and alleged that in all these days during the hunger strike, no one from the administration came to meet them. “Rather they resorted to hostile means to get us off the protest site. Yesterday, CRPF officers and police officers came and threw us out of the campus and the university has not engaged with us since then,” Abraham said.Among the other students who got suspended include Mohammad Ali Khan, Awdhitya Pramanik, Mrinalini Sikka, Saurabh Khangar, Jigyasa Dayal Arora, Piyush Sarkar, Shubham and Akshat Chaudhary.The AISA has alleged that the administration served suspension letters to the students on Wednesday (October 14) evening without issuing prior show-cause notices or convening a meeting of the proctorial committee. The students have described the move as an attempt to intimidate protesters and undermine the ongoing agitation. The protest has also brought attention to the administration’s restrictions on student gatherings and the use of physical barriers on campus. Students have raised concerns about campus democracy and the space available for political expression within the university.Notably, the October 14 order invokes provisions of its ‘Code of Discipline for Students’ and says the action against Aameen has been taken with the approval of the competent authority. A disciplinary committee is expected to examine the allegations concerning the alleged incident, as well as earlier complaints relating to disruption on the university’s campuses.