From Jadavpur to JNU, student protests gained momentum since 2014; India ranks third in number of attacks on education community

Attacks at three university campuses – Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Jawaharlal Nehru University – within a span of three weeks resulted in injuries to students and raised questions on the role of the police in containing such violence and the safety of varsities in the country Attacks at three university campuses — Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Jawaharlal Nehru University — within a span of three weeks resulted in injuries to students and raised questions on the role of the police in containing such violence and the safety of varsities in India. While Jamia and AMU saw violence during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 and the proposed National Register of Citizens within the campuses on 15 December, followed by alleged police atrocities, attacks were reported in JNU on 5 January at a time semester registration had begun following the implementation of a hostel fee hike that had seen the disapproval of students in the form of protests since October last year. The 1965 stir in Tamil Nadu against the Official Languages Act of 1963, which made Hindi an official language, and during which self-immolation of students led to 70 deaths, the agitation against a hostel fee hike at an Ahmedabad hostel in 1973 – which ended with the state government’s dissolution – and the underground protests during the 1975 Emergency — which led to the imprisonment of over 300 student union leaders — are among the movements that bore an impact in terms of damage to life and property and questioning the freedoms of students. Violent attacks on scholars, students, and their institutions are among the gravest threats to higher education, the report said adding that “these attacks not only result in the loss of lives and injuries impacting hundreds if not thousands of immediate victims, but also severely compromise the university space more generally, by sending a message that certain ideas are off-limits, and anyone who expresses them risks physical harm — even death.” With inputs from PTI