AMU Reviews Detention of 81 Law Students Over Attendance Shortages After Campus Protests
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) announced on Tuesday that it is conducting a comprehensive review of the detention of final-year law students who were barred from appearing in their semester examinations due to alleged attendance shortages. This decision comes days after significant protests erupted on the campus, with students demanding greater transparency and fairness in the academic process.
Scale of the Detention and Student Outcry
According to authoritative university sources, a staggering 81 out of 124 students in the final-year law batch have been detained for insufficient attendance. This detention effectively prevents them from taking their crucial final semester exams, a move that has triggered widespread protests. Students have vehemently alleged a complete lack of transparency in the university's attendance system, claiming that no official attendance records were shared with them during the entire academic session. This left students unaware of any potential shortfalls until it was too late.
The issue escalated dramatically after the university declared the odd semester results for the 2025–26 academic session on April 18. These results were announced nearly four months after the exams were conducted, and they were accompanied by the publication of the list of detained students. This timing has caused immense distress among the affected student body.
Impact on Academic and Career Futures
Several affected students have expressed that this sudden detention decision could completely derail their carefully laid academic and career plans. One student, who had secured an impressive top-100 rank in the CLAT-PG 2026 examination and received admission to the prestigious National Law School of India University, stated that the detention has put their entire future on an indefinite hold. Another student, who was shortlisted for a postgraduate programme at the world-renowned University of Oxford, said the decision now threatens these international academic opportunities.
"We are not against rules, but due process must be followed. There has been no clarity or official communication from the university regarding our attendance status throughout the year," the student emphasized, highlighting the core grievance of procedural failure.
Furthermore, students pointed out that this delay may prevent them from applying for the All India Bar Examination, a critical step for legal practice in India. The submission process for this exam requires the ninth-semester results to be available before the April 30 deadline, a timeline now jeopardized by the detention.
University's Response and Review Process
In response to the mounting pressure, AMU Proctor Mohammad Naved Khan stated that faculty members met with the aggrieved students on Monday. During this meeting, they assured the students that any discrepancies in attendance records would be thoroughly examined. "They said they need some time to check for miscalculations. If any attendance—such as from tutorials or internships—was missed in the initial calculation, it will be added. A revised list will be published after this review," Khan explained.
He added an important caveat, noting that students with zero attendance would not be eligible to appear for the examinations under any circumstances. This indicates the university is willing to rectify errors but will uphold its fundamental academic standards regarding minimum participation.
The students have formally demanded a complete review of the detention list and the implementation of greater transparency in how attendance records are maintained and communicated in the future. The university's ongoing review process is now being closely watched as it will determine the academic fate of dozens of law students on the brink of their professional careers.
