Hansraj College is going through a major mess right now, after news broke that the administration recently suspended as many as thirty students, including some of the senior members of the student union.
Between April 20 and 25, 2026, the college administration delivered suspension order after suspension order in rapid succession, including four democratically elected office-bearers of the Hansraj College Students’ Union for 2025–26.
Officially, the college cited social media defamation, derogatory language against staff, and physical violence during the annual fest.
Unofficially, an entire semester’s worth of grievances, a principal’s son’s wedding held on campus grounds, a festival that descended into chaos, social media posts of aggrieved students and more had been building toward exactly this kind of rupture.
The biggest question, though, is whether what happened here is a necessary disciplinary response or a targeted purge of student dissent.
Hansraj College Suspends 30 Students
Over the course of five separate notices, which started on April 20, 2026 and went on till April 25, 2026, Delhi University’s Hansraj College administration announced the suspension of around thirty students. The opening shot was fired on April 20, directed at one student alone.
The first letter was issued to Parth Srivastava, the former president of the student union. The letter, uploaded on the college’s website, said the student had been found involved in “acts of indiscipline, including defamation of the institution and use of derogatory language against teaching and non-teaching staff.”
Parth, however, reportedly told The Indian Express that, “They didn’t even care to send an email to me…no show-cause notice was published…no proper hearing was done,” adding how “It (the action) was completely arbitrary in nature.”
That same day, a second notice went out naming fourteen students for their alleged conduct during the annual fest.
Then came orders on April 23rd, again on April 24th, and finally, most significantly, on April 25th, when the college placed the sitting union office-bearers themselves under suspension. By the time the week was out, thirty students had been told they could not set foot on their own campus.
The terms of those suspensions carry their own sting. Students are permitted to return for examinations and internal assessments, but are otherwise barred from the college premises entirely. No end date has been given.
The college’s own notices describe the action as “interim,” pending disciplinary proceedings, though no timeline for those proceedings has been made public.
What the administration has not done is speak. Every journalist who contacted Principal Prof. (Dr.) Rama for comment received no response. The college’s position exists, for now, only in the language of its own suspension notices.
The college has also been very vague about what these offences by the students were that warranted the suspension. Using just words like “disruption” or “misconduct”, “breach of discipline” or “defaming the College through social media posts.”
However, it has not been made clear as to what these social media posts were or what was written in them that violated the rules of the institute.
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What Do The Students Believe Is The Reason?
Soon after news of this suspension broke out, students started to protest against it. One student, speaking with IANS news agency, said, “The issue is that our Hansraj College, which is part of Delhi University, has recently seen several incidents of irregularities and mismanagement.
Many students tried to raise these issues openly on campus and also shared videos on social media to express their concerns and criticism. However, instead of addressing these issues, the administration suspended them. No proper inquiry committee was formed, and the due process that should be followed as per rules was not adhered to.
Without following any proper procedure, these students were suspended. That is why we, the students of the college, are protesting against these suspensions and what we see as the killing of campus democracy…”
Delhi: A student says, “The issue is that our Hansraj College, which is part of Delhi University, has recently seen several incidents of irregularities and mismanagement. Many students tried to raise these issues openly on campus and also shared videos on social media to express… https://t.co/kThxgMdOJk pic.twitter.com/AM2Zv8Pdty
— IANS (@ians_india) April 27, 2026
Two of the biggest reasons believed to be the reason behind this suspension are the reaction of the students after the issues that came up during a recent fest and the principal hosting the wedding of his son inside the college campus itself.
On February 9, 2026, almost 50 Hansraj students staged a protest on campus, alleging that college facilities were being used for a private function and events were cancelled.
They also raised an accusation that the boy’s hostel was being used as a guesthouse for the wedding. A 21-year-old BA Hons student was quoted by Hindustan Times saying, “We are usually asked to leave the campus by 5 pm, but during the Khelo Hansraj game, we are given extra hours to use the ground for practice sessions. The games for now have been cancelled, and the ground has been deemed out of bounds for students. We weren’t even informed of the reason for cancelling the games. We discovered the preparation was for the principal’s son’s marriage.”
This was referring to how the annual “Khelo Hansraj” sports tournament, originally meant to run from February 4 to 27, was cancelled without notice, with the sports ground restricted for a private function.
A second-year student added, “Since [the hostel was vacated], we have never seen any construction. But today we saw it being decorated.”
Principal Rama Sharma, speaking with The Indian Express, defended his actions, saying, “This is a facility given to faculty and staff of Hansraj College. This is not something new. Even if I wasn’t a principal here, I would be allowed to use the college premises to conduct private events. And when it comes to the allegations of cancelling sports events, it is a logical fact that the wedding date in any wedding is set way before, so why would we choose any date on the same date of a sports event if we were to use the college premises?
These are all false claims. No sports event has been cancelled so far, and none is scheduled for today (the day of the wedding).”
The college eventually accepted the demands of the students and said that no action would be taken against those protesting.
The second issue came up during the college’s annual cultural fest, Confluence 2026. Just a few weeks before the event, the administration changed the rules. Restrictions on external artists were introduced. Earlier closing times were imposed. Students who had done the groundwork for months felt the rug had been pulled from beneath them. The response was not a memorandum. It was a 20-hour overnight sit-in. The strict regulations imposed sparked an outrage that involved 20 hours of overnight protest, demanding that the administration uphold its previous commitments.
Eventually, the administration gave in. The problems didn’t end there, though, as on April 8 and 9, the days of the fest, videos and posts started coming out showing the pandemonium happening on campus.
Videos circulated online showing clashes in which chairs, tables, and other objects were allegedly used. Police were called to restore order.
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Abhijeet Singh, president of the college’s students’ union, further added, “There were close to 25,000 people at the college, a lot of them outsiders. There was security and Police, but none was really able to control the situation. The college administration was, throughout the week, not very involved in the organisation of the fest, as they saw it more as something the students’ union could run and left it all on us.”
Rumours of a stabbing spread on social media, though police later denied such claims.
DCP North District Raja Banthia told HT City, “No incident of stabbing was reported. Necessary Police force was deployed, which intervened and brought the situation under control. Two student groups, one from Hansraj College and one from Dyal Singh College, were called to the police station. As we speak, no complaint has been received from any group.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: The New Indian Express, The Print, Hindustan Times
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
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