Amid nationwide unrest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, on the 15th of December, 2019, Delhi Police entered Jamia Milia Islamia University after which staff members and students were taken out of the University by Police. Following this crackdown of police on  Jamia protesters, a number of people criticized Delhi Police for taking this measure and also claimed that Police did not take any permission before entering the campus, that as, per rules, is a necessary step for Police before entering a university or college.

 A well-known scriptwriter-lyricist and former parliamentarian, Javed Akhtar put a tweet saying, "According to the law of the land under any circumstances police can not enter any university campus without the permission of the university authorities. By entering the Jamia campus without permission police have created a precedent that is a threat to every university."

Javed Akhtar's tweet was widely shared and also led an ongoing debate, whether police officials are allowed to enter a university campus without permission from the institution or not?

Najma Akhtar, Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor demanded "a high-level inquiry" into the police crackdown on university students saying police did not have permission to enter the campus.

Can Police enter University campuses with permission?

In our investigation, we found out that no law restricts Police from entering a University campus or any other place if required. 

According to Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), Police is vested with powers to make an arrest with or without a warrant from a magistrate. Section 47 and 48 of CrPC allows police officers to "pursue such person into any place in India" who the police have the reason to believe that the person has entered or is hiding in any place.

In addition, there is no mention of any such restriction on police from entering a university campus in the University Grant Commission's 2016 guidelines on the safety of students. 

Supreme Court lawyer Atul Kumar in an article by India Today also explained that "If the police get information from any source that something wrong is happening or is about to happen, they are bound by the law to do everything within the limits of the law to ensure that peace is not disturbed. University is not an exception in the eyes of laws that give a power of arrest to the police."

He also added, "Even if a university frames a rule prohibiting police from entering the campus without permission, it is redundant. The CrPC will prevail over any such law."

In conclusion, the claim that Police require permission to enter a university campus is false. According to Indian law, Police can enter "into any place in India", if they are required to do so.