Three Aligarh Muslim University students were today suspended in connection with the Saturday night violence on varsity premises, following which security was tightened around the campus.
Saddam Husain, Abdullah Imran and Mohd Amir have been suspended for "forming an unlawful assembly" outside the gate of the University Administrative Block on Saturday night, an official statement issued by AMU said.
A small group of protesters collected at the Administrative block today and raised slogans against it, though no untoward incident took place and a strong posse of police force was rushed to the spot.
On Saturday night, a group of students held a dharna at the gate of the Administrative Block against a proposal by the University to transfer of some land to private parties for development activities.
They have been charged with trying to "forcefully enter in the premises of the Administrative Block" and "manhandling of security personnel". The University campus has been placed "out of bounds" for the above three students, the statement stated.
Defending the University's move of suspending the three students, AMU Vice Chancellor Lt Gen (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah described those involved in Saturday night's incident as "armed thugs".
"The group was led by a 35-year-old undergraduate student who wanted a contract for the restoration of a University building", he said.
One of these students "had opened fire at the Proctorial team" and taking a strong view against any attempt to disturb peace at the campus, the "process of cleansing the campus would continue", Shah added.
Different AMU-based associations and unions, including the Teachers' Association (AMUTA), have voiced opposition to the proposal of leasing out more than 10,000 sq metres of University land adjoining the campus through a "built-operate-transfer" arrangement to a Mumbai-based builder.
These protests are continuing despite University's announcement that the above proposal has been deferred. But the protesters demand that the proposals "not be just deferred but should be finally rejected".
