New Delhi: A final year MA student of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi has been suspended for allegedly criticising a speech delivered by Anu Singh Lathar, the vice-chancellor of the university in Republic Day this year.
Lathar had said in her speech that the Ram Janmabhoomi movement is 525 years old and not a new issue. The vice-chancellor had also applauded the state for the establishment of the Ram temple and called for Dr B R Ambedkar to be a national figure instead of being only for the Dalit community, reported The Indian Express.
In an order by the Proctorial Board on Friday (March 21), the varsity cited “indiscipline” and use of “derogative and disrespectful language against the Head of the Institution” after the email of the student, who is also an activist with the All India Students’ Association (AISA), was shared on the official university mail facility in January this year.
As a result of the university’s action, the student has been suspended for six months (full winter semester) and barred from entering the campus during this period.
The student has said that the university’s action against her attempts to hamper her current degree and future aspirations and is representative of a “larger and sustained attack” on the academic and democratic spirit of the university.
“What must our universities stand for if the act of just asking a question itself in criminalised… The clear motivation to further cause this mental and emotional harassment is nothing but a deliberate plot by the administration to set an example to all dissenting students and curb their voices indefinitely,” said the student.
