Tension gripped Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on Tuesday night after protesting students prevented university officials from taking a postgraduate student, who has been on a hunger strike for 15 days, to hospital after his health condition worsened, officials said on Wednesday. The students have been protesting for the past several days, demanding the restoration of Aligarh Muslim University’s students’ union elections, which have not been held for eight years.
Students Prevent Medical Evacuation
A team of security personnel arrived at the protest site along with an ambulance on Tuesday night after the health of Yasser Fahad, a postgraduate Urdu student, reportedly deteriorated.
However, a large number of protesters gathered around Fahad and stopped the authorities from taking him to hospital. The security personnel later returned without being able to shift him, officials said.
AMU Proctor Naved Khan said the university had sent the team only to ensure that Fahad received urgent medical attention.
“This was not an attempt to break the hunger strike, as was mistakenly assumed, but just to provide him urgent medical support in view of the serious level of a number of health parameters,” Khan told reporters.
He said the university had assured the protesting students that Fahad could return to the protest site once doctors stabilised his condition.
Students Demand Union Election Dates
A spokesperson for the protesting students said they were worried about Fahad’s deteriorating health and called on the university administration to announce dates for the students’ union elections.
“If the university authorities share our concerns, then they should immediately announce the dates for the students’ union elections,” the spokesperson said, adding that previous experiences had led students to lose trust in the administration.
The agitation also spread to several women’s hostels on Tuesday night, where students raised slogans in support of their demand for elections.
Meanwhile, the Aligarh Muslim University Teachers’ Association (AMUTA) has also called for elections to various statutory bodies of the university.
AMUTA Secretary Ashraf Mateen said most of these bodies had been functioning without elected teacher representatives for more than six years.
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