As the sun dawned upon Army Institute of Law (AIL), Mohali on 4 October, it woke up to everything usual: The closed-door administrative meetings with the administration appointed ‘student representatives’, free lectures because of absent teachers, and the terror of an abusive female warden amongst everything else. But all was not the same.
A joint letter seeking redressal against the prevalent hostility in the environment was already drafted and ready to be posted. Consisting of 247 responses accumulated through Google forms, it was the first-ever collective action AIL was about to witness, considering the fact that the same was classified as a minor offence in the Code of Conduct.
This Code superseded the Constitutional ethos in an institute imparting legal education. Addressed to the principal, registrar and other named dignitaries in the Western Command and AWES, New Delhi, the letter was guaranteed to generate an administrative outrage. There was no response.
The night of 15 October marked the beginning of an uprising. The boys assembled outside their hostels by 10 pm and marched towards the girls’ hostel for them to join the protest. In an unprecedented act of non-cooperation, an uproar was witnessed and chants of ‘bahar aao, baat karo’ (come out, talk to us) were heard in unison.
Fifteen minutes before the strike officially began on the night of 15 October, the gate to the girls’ hostel was closed and rooms were checked for possible contraband. It was obvious at that point the paranoia with which the administration was going to respond to the strike. There were constant attempts to send us back to our hostels. However, what we couldn’t preempt was the level to which the administration was willing to stoop to suppress the strike.
No one event led to this college-wide protest. The anger had been simmering, but students didn’t speak out for the very valid fear of being profiled and targeted, which actually came true on the second day of the protest when emails were sent to parents of 7 protesters accusing their child of ‘agitating against the institute’ and instigating others. Owing to the aggravating agitation, in less than one hour of this gimmick, the administration personally apologised to the parents.
Besides, the Code of Conduct (as it stood on the day the strike started) expressly stated that ‘collective airing of grievances will not be appreciated and entertained’ (the interim student committee has now recommended the removal of this provision).
Their desperation to see the strike end was apparent by the text messages our parents were sent every day, advising them to ‘counsel’ us, by the refusal of our request to put up temporary tarpaulin structures for shade, and by the use of glaring floodlights at the protest site that were kept on till 2 am.
It was as though the administration would settle for nothing less than status-quo, therefore our right to freedom of media and press was also suppressed. The registrar himself declared “the consequence of contacting any person from media is penalty for the major offence of ‘bringing disrepute to college’.”
At the outset, the student body had put forth eight demands, few of them being a democratically-elected interim student body, removal of curfew timings and a reduction in fees.
The administration had agreed to fulfill some of these while reviewing the remaining upon consultation with parents or with receipt of a formal complaint. Consequently, declarations were received from parents of approximately 200 students, supporting the merit in all the demands, accompanying the already existing solidarity statements received from alumni and more than two dozen institutes, including NLS Bangalore and NALSAR Hyderabad amongst others.
In the above backdrop, the conclusion of the 144-hour long strike on 21 October was the inevitable outcome, but not without echoing the message that such conclusion in no way indicates the submission of our spirit to a state of imposed fear by the authorities, but an act of marching towards a better future.
The Protest is Far From Over
On the present date, the Code is still under review, effectively prohibiting its implementation. An interim student body of one representative from each batch has been democratically nominated which has recommended changes to the Code of Conduct.
In pursuit of a fair hearing in disciplinary proceedings, the management has also decided that one nominated student will be a part of the Board of Inquiry. In fulfillment of another demand, a system of weekly checks and feedback of faculty, mess and cafe services will be created.
As required by the management order, a formal complaint requesting the initiation of Internal Complaints Proceedings against the Warden (Girls Hostel) has been forwarded by the Principal to the Chairman for directions. We now await the constitution of a permanent student body, a disciplinary inquiry to start against the female warden and revocation of challenged CoC provisions. We also await a response to the written reply against a part of the management order dated 18 October.
A sense of fearlessness and accountability in the previously hostile environment is overwhelmingly obvious. In less than 2 hours of the conclusion of the strike, the evening attendance in the hostel was compelled to be conducted by the respective wardens because no member of the previously existing prefectorial body co-operated. In another episode, insects found in the lunch served one day after the culmination of the strike agitated the already-aggrieved students, who were served fresh lunch by 2:15 pm. A fine was imposed on the mess contractor.
One day after the strike concluded, a humble candle march took to the streets of Mohali. The march reinforced our commitment to peaceful ways of showing displeasure and signified that this movement is far from over.
Having won some concessions has only strengthened our resolve to achieve the remaining ones and effectively implement the system gifted to us by this strike. It is imperative to realise that we, as students, also have a duty to ensure that the wheels of a fair system do not shift, bend or break. It is with this hope that the rest of us will depend upon the democratically nominated student body, interim or permanent. While the strike has ended, it has only fuelled the ongoing protest which shall become an everlasting movement.
(The Quint has reached out to the AIL administration for a response. This story will be updated if there is a response.)
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