On Tuesday, students at Allahabad University escalated their protest over a fee increase by threatening to commit “bhu samadhi” by burying themselves in a trench they built on campus.
Some of them even dove into a five-foot pit that had been dug nearby the protest location, forcing police officers to rescue them. Later, when the situation got worse, more force was used. Later, they added trees to the pit.
Students have been demonstrating for a few days, alleging that their tuition has almost tripled. Although some students threatened to commit suicide in protest of the tuition raise, the university administration stood steadfast in its refusal to do so.
However, Vice-Chancellor Sangita Srivastava recently stated that the complaints are “misdirected.” Students at Allahabad University have been protesting for more than a month over the 400-fold rise in tuition.
“The members of the high-level committee, with the cooperation of the district administration, called the legitimate students to speak, but in the names presented by the students for talks, such names were presented, including former student union president Richa Singh, who are not currently students of the university,” the institution claimed in a statement on social media.
