NLIU Bhopal has entered the sixth day of boycotts by students after they refused to accept their administration's offer of fulfilling their demands, calling the handouts too little.

The students have also resolved to independently organise NLIU's international ADR tournament without university support, after the administration declared it as cancelled and refused to release the Rs 4 lakhs that sponsors had already given to it as funds towards the event.

Leading with NUJS Kolkata, Nalsar Hyderabad and NLSIU Bangalore, several other law schools have now come out in support for the cause of the protesting students at NLIU, such as HNLU Raipur, NLUJAA Assam, RMLNLU Lucknow.

Peanuts

Within two days' of the students' protest, the administration had agreed to extend the law school's library timings by a few hours, synchronise the hostel curfews with the library timings, expedite the repair of water coolers and water purifiers, deploy more cleaning staff in the college and increase the frequency of bus facility by 50%, according to the protest's Facebook page.

But the students, who have been sitting at the gates of the law school and completely coycotted classes since the morning of 9 November, had asked for examination system reforms, teaching reforms and attendance system reforms in addition to infrastructural improvements and called the administration's offer “peanuts”.

The student body has posted on the protest's Facebook page:

After a deliberate nap in the Samadhan building, the Administration came up with a 'one pager' document listing down the demands they agreed to. The 'lucrative offer' made an hour before Director's thankless “Goodnight” listed 6 demands they wished to agree upon and that too on their own terms and not ours. The peanuts that have been offered have been used by the Administration to show the media about how they wish to resolve the issue.

Campus visitors

One day after the students refused to accept the administration's handouts, on 12 November, NLIU director Prof SS Singh called the Riot Control Police (RCP) on campus. Students we spoke to called this an “intimidation tactic” and wore black armbands and helmets as a silent statement against the administration intimidating the peacefully protesting students.

That same day the All India Democratic Women’s Association also visited campus to extend it support in fighting the alleged sexism rampant at the law school.

According to local media reports, students have alleged that Singh had passed sexist remarks at female students and policed their manner of dressing at the law school.

Allegedly according to unnamed students quoted in the Hindi-language report, Singh had said: “Tum jaisi ladkiyan apni sharam izzat bech ke aati hain” (Girls like you sell your modesty and dignity before coming here).

We have reached out to Singh for comment.

International ADR tournament

NLIU's student run Alternate Dispute Resolution Cell (ADRC) is now independently raising funds to organise the sixth edition of the NLIU INADR International Law Mediation Tournament after the administration declared the event, which had been scheduled for this weekend, as cancelled in the wake of the protest.

The tournament is the oldest law school ADR tournament in Asia and one of the largest in the world, with planning for this edition having begun from before 24 September.

NUSRL Ranchi and RMLNLU Lucknow were two other NLUs to have protested this year against administrative apathy, opacity and infrastructural deficiency.