Umar Khalid Documentary Row: IIIT-Hyderabad Issues ‘Disciplinary Warnings’ to 8 Students
PTI | 21 September 2026 | The Print
New Delhi, Sep 21 (PTI) The International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad has issued “disciplinary warnings” to eight students associated with an independent campus platform that sought to initiate conversations on caste, merit and politics, saying the group was not authorised by the institute.
The undergraduates are associated with ‘No Tyrants, No Silence’ (NTNS), a platform that had proposed the screening of a documentary on jailed activist Umar Khalid on the campus on September 18, drawing objections from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The screening was subsequently cancelled.
The group has held discussions on campus decision-making, caste and political participation and sought to question what it sees as political disengagement among students at technology institutions.
The “notice of immediate compliance and disciplinary warnings”, signed by IIIT-Hyderabad Registrar Prof K S Rajan, were issued on September 18.
Calls and messages to Prof Rajan seeking a response on the issue went unanswered.
One such notice, seen by PTI, accused the students of operating “unauthorised social media handles, online pages, and a website” under NTNS that prominently featured the IIIT-Hyderabad name. It also accused them of publishing minutes of internal meetings which the institute said were “strictly confidential and intended solely for internal governance”.