JMI students stage stir against university over cancellation of activist Safoora Zargar admission

NEW DELHI : Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) students staged a protest against the university administration on Tuesday over the cancellation of activist Safoora Zargar's admission. The students accused the university administration of targeting Zargar as she was at the forefront of several protests. Zargar was arrested in a case related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots. Her admission was cancelled by the Department of Sociology in the university, citing "unsatisfactory" progress in her thesis work.

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Zargar enrolled with the Department of Sociology in the integrated MPhil/PhD programme in 2019. Zargar, along with various student organisations, including the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), the Fraternity Movement and the Campus Front of India, joined the protest. The students raised slogans such as "down with the Jamia administration" and "down with (Vice Chancellor) Najma Akhtar". "There is no reason not to give her (Zargar) an extension. The university is intentionally targeting her and making her submission impossible. It is saying that her progress is not satisfactory, which is quite arbitrary," SIO national secretary Rameses E K said.

In a notification dated August 26, the office of the dean, Faculty of Social Science, said Zargar did not submit her MPhil dissertation within the maximum stipulated time of five semesters. The dean's office has maintained that the action against her was taken on a recommendation made by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) on July 5. The matter was approved by the department's Board of Studies on August 22.