Muslim Student Body Opposes Supreme Court’s Stay Of UGC’s Equity Regulations
New Delhi, January 30, 2026: The Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) of India has vehemently criticised the Supreme Court’s decision to stay the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) Equity Regulations, 2026, labelling it a setback for marginalised students battling entrenched discrimination in higher education. In a strongly worded statement, SIO asserted that the stay disregards undeniable caste, racial, and religious biases on campuses, invoking tragic cases like the institutional deaths of Rohith Vemula and Dr. Payal Tadvi, the racist killing of Angel Chakma, and the unresolved disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed.
SIO firmly opposed framing the regulations as “vague” or “regressive,” arguing that such rhetoric denies the everyday humiliation, exclusion, and violence endured by Dalits, Adivasis, and backward classes. UGC data reveals a 118% surge in caste-discrimination complaints from 2019 to 2024, underscoring the urgency of these protections. “To term safeguards as threats to ‘inclusivity’ echoes dominant-caste anxieties rather than constitutional morality,” the statement noted, while calling for broader inclusivity encompassing religious, regional, linguistic, and racial discrimination without diluting historical remedies.
The organisation expressed alarm over “selective judicial urgency,” where measures for oppressed communities face swift stays, yet minority issues — from custodial violence to Muslim rights — languish unresolved.
Earlier, in a Wednesday statement issued by Dr. Roshan Mohiddin, National Secretary, SIO had cautiously welcomed the guidelines as a “long-overdue step” born of student struggles and judicial interventions. Provisions like equity committees, helplines, time-bound inquiries, and OBC inclusion marked progress over the ineffective 2012 framework.
However, SIO deemed the rules inadequate for ignoring religious minorities, especially Muslim and Christian students facing Islamophobic slurs, bias, and apathy. The regulations recognise discrimination by religion, race, gender, caste, birthplace, and disability declaratively, but lack substantive safeguards or enforcement. Najeeb Ahmed’s case exemplifies this gap. SIO demands mandatory representation of marginalised groups and students in equity bodies, clear enumeration of discriminatory practices, independent judicial oversight, and empowered structures to prevent administrative capture.
Without these reforms, SIO warns, the UGC’s goal of eradicating discrimination will remain “progressive in language but hollow in practice.” The body urges autonomous, representative equity centres to foster true inclusion, challenging institutions to confront all biases head-on. As campus tensions simmer, SIO’s critique highlights deepening divides in India’s pursuit of equitable higher education.
