Demolishing a Varsity, Dismantling Futures: The Story of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University’s Fight for Survival
Ankit Jain | 08 August 2026 | NewsLaundry
“I felt terrible, they were maligning us right in front of us, sitting outside our campus. I was shocked that government teachers were doing this and the district magistrate had set up the camp while we are still a functioning university,” Zaheeruddin lamented.
Arguing that the counselling camp amounted to contempt of court, he mentioned that the administration wrote to the Rampur DM citing a 2019 high court stay order that specifically ordered that students and staff of the university must not be harassed. The camp was removed after two days, on July 18 evening.
The students’ plight
When Alt News visited the campus, the students, now thrust into indefinite anxiety over their futures, were sitting in protest in front of the main gate, demanding that the RDA withdraw the demolition. “We have been protesting since July 18 because RDA should withdraw this order. There are 3,000-4,000 students studying here; don’t snatch the pen from their hands,” said a 5th-year student from Panipat, Haryana.
Students echoed the administration’s account on the ‘pattern’ of state action which haunted their campus. Every year during admissions, they said, new action or rumours would surface, discouraging parents and prospective students. “Every year, fear is planted in children’s hearts that the university will be shut down,” said another student. Barely 200 kilometres from Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, where students and youth of the country came together in thousands to demand educational reform in India, a notice was served on a university, declaring that most of its built structures were illegal and would soon be demolished.