When Delhi College (DU) on Tuesday issued an order banning all public conferences, processions, and demonstrations on the campus for a interval of 1 month, it didn’t expressly point out the nub of the problem — the UGC’s guidelines towards caste discrimination — but it surely underlined that latest protests had turned violent.
The premier college within the nationwide capital finds itself on the epicentre of a storm over the College Grants Fee’s (UGC) anti-casteism rules, which have been stayed for now by the Supreme Courtroom.
DU’s order, issued by the workplace of the proctor on February 17, 2026, cites “info obtained indicating that unrestricted public gatherings… could result in obstruction of visitors, threats to human life, and disturbance of public peace”. The restriction prohibits the meeting of 5 or extra individuals, the shouting of slogans, and the carrying of hazardous supplies like mashal or torches.
Rapid set off of DU ban on protests
The college’s choice to close down protests for a month shouldn’t be an remoted administrative reflex, however a response to a collection of occasions that rocked primarily the North Campus over the previous week.
On February 13, an indication supporting the UGC (Promotion of Fairness in Larger Schooling Establishments) Laws, 2026, descended into chaos. Organised by the All India Discussion board for Fairness, and backed by the left-wing All India College students’ Affiliation (AISA), this protest noticed a face-off with members of the RSS scholar wing, the ruling BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
A YouTuber figuring out herself as a Brahmin journalist alleged that she was assaulted and subjected to “rape threats by a mob of practically 500 folks”.
Movies shared by AISA members and others confirmed she made casteist remarks and shoved a lady to the bottom too.
The YouTuber claimed the group turned on her after asking about her caste. “The ladies round me whispered rape threats in my ears simply because I’m a Brahmin; ‘aaj tu chal, tera nanga parade niklega,’ is what they mentioned,” she advised reporters, alleging that police “remained passive”.
Counter-narratives emerged nearly instantly.
AISA activists and one other journalist mentioned the lady provoked the group and tried to grab tools from different reporters.
The Delhi Police later registered cross-FIRs on the Maurice Nagar police station, invoking sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) associated to molestation, assault, and legal intimidation.
Root of the row: 2026 fairness rules by UGC
On the coronary heart of this turmoil are the UGC’s 2026 rules, notified on January 13, which had been supposed to exchange the prevailing 2012 anti-discrimination pointers.
These guidelines mandate that each one increased schooling establishments (HEIs) set up Fairness Committees, Fairness Squads, and devoted helplines to deal with discrimination.
The rules had been framed following a Supreme Courtroom order on a petition filed by the moms of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi, each of whom died by suicide following alleged caste-based harassment on their respective campuses.
The brand new framework goals to supply a extra sturdy mechanism for college kids from Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Different Backward Class (OBC) communities to hunt redressal.
Nonetheless, this sparked a backlash from Common class or so-called upper-caste college students, even college and others. They argue that the rules are constructed on a “slender definition” of discrimination — particularly, Regulation 3(c) defines “caste-based discrimination” as actions directed solely towards SC, ST, and OBC communities.
What prime court docket mentioned on UGC rules
Amid protests ranging from mid-January, the battle moved to the Supreme Courtroom, which by January-end stayed the operation of the brand new rules. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant commented there was “full vagueness” within the guidelines and there was additionally potential for misuse.
It noticed that the definition of caste-based discrimination was problematic.
“After 75 years of attempting to make a caste-less society, whether or not the course of policy-making is progressive or tending in direction of a regressive strategy,” the bench opeined, noting that the principles might divide society and trigger “harmful impacts”.
Petitioners towards the principles, together with researcher Mritunjay Tiwari and advocate Vineet Jindal, argued that the principles violate the constitutional assure of equality.
“The regulation wrongly assumes caste-based discrimination flows in just one course,” Mrityunjay Tiwari contended, arguing that it leaves Common class college students with out institutional safety in the event that they face harassment based mostly on their caste identification.
For now, till the SC decides on the constitutional validity of the 2026 guidelines, it has directed that the older, 2012 rules will proceed to use.
Political and tutorial fallout of UGC guidelines
The row has divided the political and tutorial panorama as properly. Union schooling minister Dharmendra Pradhan tried to appease nerves: “I need to humbly guarantee everybody (that) nobody goes to face any harassment… nobody may have the suitable to misuse the regulation within the title of discrimination.”
However senior advocate Indira Jaising, recognized for taking over rights circumstances, characterised the protests primarily by Common class college students as an “Higher-Caste response to the efforts of the SC, ST and OBC communities to cope with problems with discrimination”.
However even Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Priyanka Chaturvedi questioned the implementation, asking on social media, “How ought to discrimination be outlined — via phrases, actions, or perceptions?”
Inside Delhi College, the one-month ban on protests has elicited some resistance. Mithuraj Dhusiya, an affiliate professor at Hansraj School, described the transfer as a “blanket clampdown”. Talking to news company PTI, Dhusiya questioned whether or not the administration was utilizing visitors considerations as a pretext to “curb mobilisations over points comparable to appointments… and the latest suspensions of academics”.
Not confined to DU
The unrest shouldn’t be restricted to DU, or to simply college campuses.
At Jawaharlal Nehru College (JNU) in Delhi, the administration not too long ago rusticated 4 scholar union office-bearers, together with union president Aditi Mishra, for 2 semesters. The scholars had been accused of vandalizing college property, together with facial-recognition gates on the library, throughout protests that included opposition to suspension of the UGC’s fairness rules. There have been protests at public universities in Lucknow, UP; and Hyderabad, Telangana, too
In Uttar Pradesh, the row reached Bareilly, the place Metropolis Justice of the Peace Alankar Agnihotri was suspended after escalating his protest towards the state administration and the UGC guidelines, claiming they had been “extremely detrimental to the nation” and had sparked outrage amongst Brahmin organisations. That was earlier than the SC halted the principles.
DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh has, in the meantime, made a public plea for restraint, urging academics and college students to keep up belief within the judicial course of.
“Social concord is the best factor, and sustaining it’s the responsibility of all of us,” he mentioned in an announcement. “I enchantment to all academics and college students of the college to keep up their belief within the Authorities of India and await the choice of the Hon’ble Supreme Courtroom”.
Politics on the problem has been cagey, guarded at greatest, as events keep away from angering both aspect.
After the SC’s keep on the principles, the ruling BJP avoided making any touch upon the principles, The federal government is dedicated to making sure “justice for all”, BJP MP and nationwide spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi mentioned, when requested concerning the situation.
