New Delhi: Delhi Police have registered an FIR for alleged trespassing against Members of Parliament (MPs) who visited Jamia Millia Islamia to meet students protesting on the campus, following a complaint by the university authorities.
The visit came amid an ongoing student agitation demanding the restoration of the Jamia Millia Islamia Students' Union (JMISU), the revocation of disciplinary action against protesting students and the removal of the university's Chief Proctor.
The protest and hunger strike began on October 12. During the initial days of the demonstration, Delhi Police attempted to remove protesters from the designated protest site on the university campus, leading to an escalation of the protest.
Over 1,500 teaching and non-teaching staff of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), along with the Vice-Chancellor of JMI, Prof. Mazhar Asif and Registrar of JMI, Prof. Md. Mahtab Alam Rizvi, convened a meeting on Saturday at the university's Ansari Auditorium lawns to discuss the way forward.
The meeting followed four rounds of talks and an appeal issued by the committee last night urging the students to call off their protests.
The meeting comes in a significant development amid week-long efforts by a seven-member high-level committee of university professors, constituted on October 18, to mediate with students protesting for elections to the Jamia Millia Islamia Students' Union (JMISU).
Expressing dismay over incidents of vandalism and the defacement of campus walls with highly objectionable slogans, JMI faculty members and staff asserted that such actions undermined the academic atmosphere and the dignity of an institution with a distinguished 106-year legacy, as per the release.
The gathering unanimously adopted two resolutions: First, the employees resolved to urge the protesters to vacate the protest site and call off their agitation to restore peace and normalcy on campus, particularly at the Ghalib statue lawns, which had been illegally occupied by the protesting students despite Gate No. 18 being the designated protest site at JMI, it added.
Second, faculty and staff resolved to repaint the defaced walls and cover slogans they described as highly condemnable and detrimental to the nation's integrity, security and sovereignty.
The JMI Students' Union was suspended in 2006 following recurring incidents of violent clashes, attacks on teachers and occasional disruptions of classes.