On March 19, 2019, the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) student protest culminated after 5 days when the administration officially accepted the demands of the students in a meeting which was moderated by the Advocate General (AG) of Punjab, Atul Nanda.
“While addressing the students, the AG also agreed that the demands put forth by the students were in no manner unreasonable or something which couldn’t be granted easily,” said a third year law student of RGNUL.
There had been a standoff in any negotiations between the students and the administration for the first few days of the protest as the varsity refused to give any written assurances until the protest was called off. The vague verbal promises only made the students wary of following through any such demands, and hence they continued with the peaceful demonstration until the fifth day into the strike.
Finally, with the aid of the Advocate General, an agreement was reached in a mandatory meeting in the presence of the Vice-Chancellor and the student representatives from each batch, where the demands of the students were accepted and a consensus was reached with the following terms:
1. The suspension of the six students has been revoked unconditionally.
2. An independent probe will be conducted into the conduct of Administrative Officer SP Singh by a judicial officer nominated by the University Chancellor. SP Singh will be sent on compulsory leave immediately until the conclusion of the inquiry. The inquiry is to be concluded within three months. SP Singh will not be allowed access to the University premises in the meanwhile.
3. The students have been permitted to constitute a representative general body. The agreement also outlines the setting up of a student interim committee to go about constituting RGNUL’s first such student representative body.
4. Uniform curfews have been set for both female and male students. The in-campus curfew has been set at 8:00 p.m. and the in-hostel time for both girls and boys has been set at 12:00 a.m.
It has also been decided that the complaints by the State Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women would be dropped. However, nothing in written has been published in writing on this matter as of yet.
The agreement comes as a relief to the students who are now looking forward to a more progressive and healthy educational environment, along with an efficient and reliable administration.
The students also expressed their gratitude for the advocate general, going as far as to say that, “Without the Advocate General’s intervention, it would have been very difficult to break the deadlock as evident from the previous meetings with the worthy Vice-Chancellor and other authorities where no conclusion was reached.”
Initially the protest had erupted when the administration officer had suspended 6 students when they had protested against the poor quality of food. The suspension was considered arbitrary as it was issued by the administrative officer, instead of the Vice-Chancellor, as per the rule, and no proper hearing was undertaken either, leading to the student’s protest, which dragged on relentlessly for the next five days, and brought to light several other problems that the students were facing, including gender discriminatory rules, lack of a student council and so on.
However, there is no denying that the agreement is a breath of fresh air in the stiff and stringent atmosphere that had settled in the varsity over the last several years, and the sentiment can be expressed in a statement by a second year student of RGNUL, “This victory, the first of its kind is a testament to a new era of freedom and opportunities to come. We’ve demonstrated to the administration that the days of suffering in silence are over.”