Hajara Najeeb

A first-year student at South Asian University in Delhi was allegedly sexually assaulted inside the campus, while the administration delayed police action, dismissed her ordeal as a “panic attack,” and students now accuse the institution of complicity and systemic failure.

Along with the curbing of student rights, right-wing hooliganism is also on the rise on campus.

Ambedkar University Delhi witnessed student protests on March 24 following the suspension of a final-year postgraduate student, Mantahsa, over her criticism of a speech made by the Vice Chancellor during the Republic Day celebrations organized by the university.

Twenty-two years later, Zara Chowdhary will write a memoir of her life and that of her family during those three months and several others preceding them. She will name it “The Lucky Ones”, indicative of the survival her family made, while the unlucky ones made into numbers in government records and eventually into unmarked graves. 

However, this election is significant due to a factor - it is the first Assembly election after the Northeast Delhi Pogrom which took place in February, 2020 following protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. More importantly, it is marked with the candidature of two activists who have been jailed under UAPA alleging them of inciting violence during the protests against CAA and accusing involvement in the pogrom.

On 5 November 2024, two professors from Ambedkar University Delhi—Dr. Salil Misra and Dr. Asmita Kabra—were terminated from their positions, allegedly due to “procedural lapses” in the regularization of 38 non-teaching staff members when they were Pro Vice Chancellor and Acting Registrar, respectively, in 2018.