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Punjab Law University Students Boycott Exams, Administration Calls In Rapid Action Force

Students at the Rajiv Gandhi National Law University in Patiala have been protesting after six students were suspended for raising their voice against bad food in the hostel mess.
Twitter/Shantanu Sharma

Students of the Rajiv Gandhi National Law University in Punjab’s Patiala protested for the fourth day on Monday, boycotting their semester exams over the suspension of six students.

Scroll.in reported that despite it being a peaceful protest, college authorities called in the Rapid Action Force of the Central Reserve Police Force on Monday.

Reports suggest that only fifth year students have appeared for the exams that were held on Monday.

According to a report in Bar&Bench, the students also approached the Punjab State Human Rights Commission for intervention.

The Tribune had reported on Friday that the six students were suspended for protesting against the poor quality of food at the hostel mess.

BA-LLB student told The Tribune on the condition of anonymity, “Using our right we protested against the authorities and demanded that we should be given safe and hygienic food. Few students, who were leading the protest, asked all of us to pick up their empty plates and keep them knocking as part of the protest.”

Students across many universities in India have been protesting against high-handed moves by the administration or the government.

In February, sedition charges were filed against 14 students of the Aligarh Muslim University after a brawl broke out between AMU students and Republic TV. The students of the university had criticised the television channel and the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha for filing the complaint.

The brawl allegedly began when the crew from the Republic TV “was recording its reporters saying that ‘AMU is a terrorist campus’”.

In 2018, students at the Hidayatullah National Law University protested the extension of the tenure of the university’s vice-chancellor Sukh Pal and also the moral policing the women students of the university faced.

Shivangi Choubey, a 21-year-old student of Banaras Hindu University was ‘debarred’ from the institution in 2018 for taking part in protests against the administration and the conservative, Hindutva right-wing politics on campus.

In October 2018, women in Punjabi University protested for over 20 days over patriarchal rules of the university.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.