Students say the scholar was suspended without being shown the disciplinary committee's investigation report
BENGALURU — Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reportedly created a ruckus at Azim Premji University (APU) in Bengaluru in February this year, but a female scholar paid the price for the unrest: She was suspended for two years.
The suspension notice issued by the university administration has angered the student community, which organised a massive protest against the “biased” and “arbitrary” action.
The administration believes the student was one of the organisers behind a discussion on Kashmir, over which ABVP members allegedly indulged in large-scale vandalism. The suspension order also accused the student of not helping to de-escalate the volatile situation.
Fellow students allege that the university administration unfairly penalised the victim instead of acting against those responsible for the unrest.
In a press release issued on Friday, students claimed that the violence “was initiated by external actors who forcefully entered university premises and vandalised property.” They alleged that ABVP members were involved in the incident, but no action had been taken against them.
Instead, the university administration imposed what students described as a “severe punishment” on the female student for allegedly failing to “de-escalate” the situation.
Screengrab of a video showing ABVP members vandalising the Azim Premji University campus in Bengaluru. | Instagram Photo
According to the suspension email sent by the Registrar’s office, the student faces multiple charges, including “defiance of institutional processes,” “misrepresenting facts,” “violating the university code of conduct,” and failing to comply with instructions aimed at calming a “volatile situation” during what was termed an “extraordinary event.”
The action follows recommendations by a Special Disciplinary Committee set up to investigate the February 24 incident. However, students have criticised the process as opaque and arbitrary, claiming that the suspended student was not provided with a copy of the committee’s report.
They further alleged that other students questioned during the inquiry received warning emails threatening stricter action in the future.
Calling the two-year suspension “equivalent to expulsion,” students argued that the administration was targeting its own community members rather than addressing the alleged role of external actors in the violence.
More than 40 students gathered on campus to demand the immediate revocation of the suspension. Protesters raised slogans against the administration and marched to the Registrar’s office seeking a meeting, which they said was denied.
According to the students, security personnel blocked their entry into the office, while university officials insisted that formal procedures be followed before any meeting could take place. Protesters also alleged that they were threatened with disciplinary action for demonstrating outside the office, with authorities claiming the gathering disrupted workplace functioning.
The Student Council has since written to the Registrar, questioning both the lack of transparency in the disciplinary proceedings and the severity of the punishment. Students have also launched a signature campaign demanding accountability and the withdrawal of the suspension order.
The February incident followed heightened tensions on campus over a planned discussion organised by the student collective Spark Reading Circle. The event was intended to mark the anniversary of the 1991 allegations from the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora, where women accused Indian armed forces personnel of mass sexual violence during a search operation.
The programme, described by organisers as an academic discussion on justice, memory, and accountability, reportedly drew opposition from ABVP members, which students allege escalated into violence.
Students further claimed that ABVP members assaulted a Muslim student and vandalised university property during the unrest. Videos circulating on social media later showed students raising slogans against Hindutva politics and demanding accountability for the alleged assault and damage.
The university administration has not publicly responded to the students’ allegations at the time of publication.
