At 4 pm on October 27, near the central canteen, Nausheen Farooq went over her notes before addressing the media. Dressed in a yellow kurti, pyjamas and a head scarf, she muttered each point under her breath. Her friends surrounded her, talking, planning, while one adjusted her microphone.

A few steps away, Haneena Bint Omar was walking from the Geography Department to the Political Science building, carrying a water gallon in each hand. Other students walked alongside, carrying more water and packets of food to be passed over the spiked boundary wall.

For 18 days, as over a hundred students demanded the restoration of the Jamia Millia Islamia’s long-defunct students’ union amid a campus shutdown and prohibitory orders, Nausheen and Haneena were among those who helped organise and sustain the agitation.…