New Delhi. Sept. 23: Jamia Millia Islamia has declared it will offer legal aid to two students arrested for suspected terror links but clarified that it is not defending any activity the students may have been involved in.

“We have decided we will provide legal aid to these students, even though we have suspended them during investigations. But I want to draw a distinction... we are not defending their actions,” university vice-chancellor Mushirul Hasan said.

The decision sparked a political debate between the BJP and the Congress, with the former indignant about what it claimed was an instance of a “state-sponsored university supporting terrorists”.

The Congress, however, said the university was within its rights to legally aid its students. “Everyone is innocent till proven guilty. There is nothing wrong in the university assisting its students legally,” party leader M. Veerappa Moily said.

Zia-ur Rahman and Mohammed Shakeel, two students of Jamia, were arrested on Sunday by Delhi police for suspected links to the serial blasts that rocked the capital on September 13.

The university yesterday suspended the two — Zia was a student of the BA programme, and Shakeel an MA final year student of economics — pending investigation.

Under India’s university system, students are wards of the varsity administration.

Asked if the university’s legal team would challenge investigating agencies in court, Hasan said “it may”.

“We may fight legally on behalf of the students, depending on the situation,” he said, not ruling out financial assistance either.

But university sources said Jamia would only legally defend the boys, or finance their legal battle, “as a last resort”.

“The university’s image, as it is, has taken a beating because of the arrests. It is our duty to offer the boys assistance, if they need it, but sending our lawyers to defend them would not be good for the varsity,” an official said.

Stunned by the arrests, an anxious Jamia administration was trying to “slowly bring the university back to normalcy”, sources said.

Hasan will tomorrow address all Jamia students at 4pm at the university’s Ansari auditorium. The press is barred.

On Thursday, the university academic council and executive council will hold “emergency meetings”. Later, Hasan will lead students and faculty in a peace march.