DU women’s hostel protest: Administration grants stay extension till June 30
Women students at the University Hostel for Women at Delhi University staged a late-night sit-in protest that stretched past midnight and into the early hours of Friday.
The students refused to leave until the hostel administration put its assurances in writing. At 3.30 am, they got what they came for: a written notice extending residency for final-year students till June 30, 2026, and a commitment to address basic amenities that had been failing for months.
The protest began at around 9:30 pm on Thursday, with residents gathering outside the hostel premises and raising slogans against the administration. It continued for over six hours. The immediate trigger was a hostel administration order demanding Rs 450 per day from students who continued to stay beyond seven days after their examinations ended, despite many students having already paid hostel fees in advance for June and July. “We refused to leave until we received the written order. Around 3:30 am, we finally had the written assurance,” a student said on the condition of anonymity.
The official notice, signed by the resident tutor and warden, confirmed that final-year students would be permitted to stay as regular residents until June 30, 2026.
It also stated that issues raised by residents, including adding chairs to the reading room and arranging coolers in the mess, were under serious consideration and would be addressed without delay. By Friday morning, additional chairs had been placed in the reading room, and two working coolers had been installed in the mess as a stopgap until the air conditioners were repaired.
The grievances behind the protest had been building for months. PhD student Anshika Kumari, from Delhi University’s Hindi department, said students had been dealing with irregular water supply, poor-quality drinking water, and insufficient seating in the reading room for a long time. “It is peak summer, and the mess air conditioners are still not functioning,” she said.
