AMU Doctors Demand Reinstatement of Colleagues Removed After Talking to Media on Hathras Case

The administration has claimed that termination notices to two doctors were not related to the Hathras case and was an 'administrative decision'.

Ismat Ara

The administration has claimed that termination notices to two doctors were not related to the Hathras case and was an 'administrative decision'.

amu doctors demand reinstatement of colleagues removed after talking to media on hathras case

JNMCH at Aligarh.

New Delhi: Resident doctors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Aligarh have demanded the reinstatement of two colleagues a day after they were removed from their positions, allegedly for giving comments to the press on the Hathras gang rape and murder. The doctors are Dr Azeem Malik and Dr Obaid Imtiyazul Haque.

After The Wire reported on their removal on Tuesday, the Aligarh Muslim University administration tweeted denying any suspension of their employees with regard to the Hathras incident. "The news circulating in social media on the subject is false & holds no ground," the tweet read.

Contesting the allegations, AMU spokesperson Shafey Kidwai had also told The Wire, "Dr Azeem has been working on leave vacancy whose term expired on October 8, hence question of termination of his service does not arise. Casual medical officer is a group one service and temporary appointment cannot be made since there are many COVID patients. Now with the improved situation, the ad hoc appointment of two more doctors, Dr. Obaid and Dr. Faheem, was not approved. It is [a] pure administrative decision [that has] nothing to do with the Indian Express interview."

The Resident Doctors Association (RDA), in a letter to the AMU vice-chancellor Tariq Mandoor on Wednesday, urged him to take immediate steps to withdraw the termination order that had been served to the two employees on Tuesday.

The letter, signed by RDA president Mohammad Hamza Malik and general secretary Mohammad Kaashif, says that the action against the two doctors was influenced by "vendetta politics" and was aimed to suppress "independent voices".

Earlier, local BJP leader Nishant Sharma has called for a probe by the Central government into the role of all doctors who allegedly issued "controversial" statements on the Hathras case.

Also read: Hathras Case: Doctor Who Contradicted UP Police Version on Rape Has Now Been Sacked by AMU

Dr Azeem Malik, one of the two doctors who have been fired, had earlier told The Wire, "There was nothing wrong in giving statements to the press. Ask any doctor, they will say the same thing as me. But it [the backlash] is happening probably because it made headlines."

Hamza Malik, president of the RDA, said, "Two employees of the hospital were removed yesterday. We condemn and oppose this act in the strongest possible words. In our general body meeting today, we have decided that we will stand with our colleagues and will be ready to protest if the need be."

He also said that a 24-hour ultimatum has been given to the administration to revoke their decision, otherwise they will protest. "This step is influenced by political pressure and cannot be justified in any way," he added.

This article went live on October twenty-first, two thousand twenty, at forty-five minutes past six in the evening.

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