New Delhi: Protests broke out at Aligarh Muslim University on Saturday, after 81 of the 124 final-year students of the law faculty were “detained” over attendance shortages. A detention means the university will not allow them to write the final semester exams. Students claimed that no official attendance records had been shared with them throughout the academic session.
The results for the odd semester of the 2025-26 academic year were declared on 18 April, nearly four months after examinations were conducted. Along with the results, a list of the detained students has also been released by the administration, in which 25 students have been detained due to attendance shortages in a single course, leaving students who had received job offers and acceptances from prestigious institutions for their master’s, unsure about their future.
“We attended classes, wrote internal exams, submitted assignments and even completed mandatory internships, but the results came after months with no clarity on attendance and suddenly 81 of us have been detained,” a final-year student told ThePrint, on the condition of anonymity.
ThePrint reached out to the university administration seeking comments on the story, but it has not yet received a response.
Students said that after a list of the detained students was announced, they immediately approached Dean Shakeel Ahmed and Faculty Chairman Professor Noomani, but no meaningful dialogue took place.
“As soon as the list of detained students was released, we rushed to the dean’s office, but there was complete reluctance to engage. We were left with no option but to protest peacefully,” another student said.
According to multiple students, the protest escalated when members of the university’s proctorial team entered the premises. “They tried to disperse us forcefully. Some students were mishandled, a few of us were even beaten, punched and kicked…all this was happening while the dean stood there and watched,” a student alleged.
Others also claimed that abusive language was used during the confrontation.
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‘Detention at this stage can derail careers’
Students were stranded inside the faculty premises till late at night without any assurance from the administration. “We are still sitting in protest, and even now there is no clarity on whether these detentions will be revoked,” he added.
Students claimed that throughout the academic session, no monthly or weekly attendance was displayed — either online or on notice boards and that the attendance wasn’t even recorded in official registers but taken on loose sheets.
They also pointed to structural issues within the faculty. “There were multiple instances when teachers themselves were absent, which directly affected our attendance. Yet, the burden is being placed entirely on students,” he added.
Students argued that the faculty failed to adopt any remedial measures. “There were no extra classes, no online alternatives, no assignments or legal aid work to compensate for attendance shortages, nothing that the rules require,” another detained student said.
According to the 3 November 2025 judgment in the case related to a law student’s death, the Delhi High Court had issued interim directions on attendance norms across legal institutions. The order stated that students should not be detained or barred from examinations solely due to attendance shortages, and that institutions must ensure transparency through weekly attendance disclosures and remedial mechanisms.
“Owing to the fact that none of the guidelines was followed for the entire session, we are demanding that no attendance criteria be imposed retrospectively to detain students,” the students said in a joint statement to the press.
The stakes, they said, are particularly high because these are final-year students.
“Detention at this stage can derail careers. We are about to graduate, apply for jobs, and sit for professional exams,” the statement read.
Several students cited individual cases to underline the impact: One student has a call from the University of Oxford, another has secured admission through CLAT-PG at NLSIU Bengaluru, and someone else has cleared the written stage of the Supreme Court Law Clerk exam. There are also students with PPOs from law firms.
Students pointed out that the delay in exam results has already put deadlines at risk. “The last date to apply for the All India Bar Examination is 30 April. If this is not resolved immediately, many of us won’t even be able to register,” it added.
Others flagged the broader consequences: “Judicial aspirants will miss out on state judiciary exams, which require completion of the degree within five years. Even job offers and interviews are at stake.”
(Edited by Saptak Datta)