A 20-year-old undergraduate student in Muzaffarnagar’s Budhana set himself ablaze on his college campus on November 8 after he was allegedly barred from submitting his examination form over unpaid fees.

The student, Ujjwal Rana, a second-year BA candidate, sustained more than 70 percent burns and is now being treated at a Delhi hospital.

A video recorded by Ujjwal two days before the incident has intensified the outrage. In it, he accuses the principal and three policemen of physically assaulting him, berating him before other students, and driving him out of the college for failing to clear the remaining ₹7,000 of his fees. He said he had already managed to pay ₹1,700.

“The principal humiliated me in front of everyone, saying this college isn’t a dharamshala,” Ujjwal says in the video, adding that his hair was pulled, he was slapped, and “policemen pushed me out like a criminal”. He claims he was targeted not just for his own dues but for defending other students struggling to pay. “If anything happens to me, they should be held responsible,” he says.

According to police and college sources, Ujjwal had been denied permission to fill his third-semester exam form earlier in the week. At around 11.30 am on Saturday, he reportedly doused himself in an inflammable liquid on campus and set himself ablaze.

Videos posted on social media show him engulfed in flames as students scream for help. Witnesses and family members — now staging protests outside the college — allege that no teacher or staff member stepped in. “He lay there burning and crying for almost half an hour,” said a relative. “If the staff had acted even for a moment, he wouldn’t be in this condition.”

Ujjwal was first taken to a local hospital and then referred to Meerut before being shifted to Delhi due to the severity of his injuries.

A resident of Khakaroban village, Ujjwal is the son of Harendra, a sugarcane farmer who cultivates around 13 bighas of land. His mother died several years ago.

Late November 8 evening, Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate Umesh Mishra and Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjai Kumar Verma visited the college and directed officials to conduct a comprehensive inquiry.

Budhana police have registered a case based on a complaint by Ujjwal’s sister, Saloni, naming the principal and others. “Preliminary findings suggest the student poured an inflammable substance on himself,” said Budhana Circle Officer Gajendra Pal Singh. “Strict action will be taken against anyone who instigated or mistreated him.” He added that Ujjwal is now stated to be out of immediate danger, and two sub-inspectors have been deployed for his security.

Responding to allegations that policemen assaulted the student, SSP Muzaffarnagar Sanjai Kumar said: “The SPRA is examining the conduct of the personnel named in the complaint and the video. If any wrongdoing is established, the action will be uncompromising.”