In July 2026, students across India rose in nationwide protest. What began in May 2026 as an online satirical response to a remark by the Chief Justice of India soon moved from social media outburst to the streets. Within weeks, the Cockroach Janta Party had become the vehicle for a much larger student mobilisation. An indefinite sit-in at Jantar Mantar against paper leaks, examination irregularities, and failures of the Indian education system, and a demand for accountability from the ruling dispensation, drew students, parents, teachers, and supporters from across the country.

IAFN opens this section because a network devoted to academic freedom cannot look away from students on the street. The freedom to learn has always included the freedom to dissent. Moreover, these protests sit at the heart of academic freedom in two ways. First, the movement raised fundamental questions about academic freedom in India. Its demands concerned education, the integrity of competitive examinations, fairness in recruitment, and students' right to a future not determined by corruption or institutional failure. In demanding accountability, students were defending the integrity of the system through which they learn. Second, the institutional response to the protests reveals how far that freedom has narrowed. Across the country, institutions issued advisories and orders warning students against participating in protests, sometimes threatening disciplinary action.

Academic freedom cannot be confined to the classroom. It includes the freedom to question authority, associate with others, express dissent, and participate in public debates about the institutions that shape one's life. A university that permits critical thought in seminars and classrooms but prohibits students from acting on those concerns in public abandons its role as a space of free inquiry and becomes an instrument of control.

Collected here are materials on the movement. A gallery of photographs from protest sites; the gag orders and advisories issued by universities; opinion pieces written as events unfolded; reports on the CJP-led protests; testimonies of students and teachers who were there; and video reports.  

We invite readers who took part in or witnessed these protests to add to this record. Write to us with your accounts, images, posters, or clips at indiaacademicfreedom@gmail.com.