Online campaign to support AUD student suspended for graffiti

The Ambedkar University Delhi Student Council (AUDSC) has started an online petition to support Priyansh Maurya, who has been suspended for his graffiti on the university walls.

Expressing himself through graffiti on the university walls, has turned out to be “expensive” for Maurya, a BA History final-year student of Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD).

The AUD administration has sent him an email charging him with defacement of property, as a result of which he has been suspended and asking him to pay Rs 39,442 as damages. The university administration did not stop at that and asked Maurya to consult a psychotherapist at the university's Ehsaas clinic and get 'anger management' therapy and issue an apology letter signed by his parents.

The AUD claimed that Maurya had used derogatory language against the university, on the AUD walls.

A press release issued by Students’ Federation of India (SFI)-AUD, said, “The order, however, shows the authoritarian attitude of the Vice-Chancellor and the rest of the administration. Heavily penalising him for his actions to try and save the democratic ethos of the university.”

The press release added that Priyansh will not be allowed on the campus, by the authorities unless he paid the penalty amount. “The administration is thus setting a dangerous precedent and trying to curb the voices of the student community," SFI said.

The Ambedkar University Delhi Student Council (AUDSC) has started a petition to support Priyansh and has appealed to the civil society, academic community and student body at large to sign the online petition started by it.

In a video released by SFI-AUD, Priyansh said, "Since the inception of the new administration in 2019 under the new VC, the culture of dissent has been repeatedly tampered." He requests the civil society to not look at the issue in isolation as the event is a part of a large issue within higher education institutions and academic spaces.

The students have taken to Twitter with hashtags #SaveAUD and #RevokeAllPenalities.