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Delhi: Students of the New Delhi-based Jamia Millia Islamia have expressed strong solidarity with Dalit Professor Virendra Balaji Shahare, who was suspended by the university administration after including a question in his exam asking students to \u201cdiscuss the atrocities against Muslim minorities in India\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, in a statement, the Department of Social Work students condemned the suspension, calling it an \u201cerosion of academic freedom and intellectual autonomy, and an impermissible narrowing of scholarly discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n
They asserted that the professor had committed \u201cno wrongdoing\u201d and maintained that the question cited as the basis for complaints was fully aligned with the prescribed syllabus. \u201cPenalising an academic for facilitating critical engagement undermines the very foundation of social science education,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
The statement further criticised the university\u2019s use of Statute 37(1) to suspend the professor, calling it \u201carbitrary, excessive, and legally untenable.\u201d They maintained that setting an examination question approved through institutional mechanisms does not amount to misconduct, negligence, or \u201cunbecoming conduct\u201d under the statute.<\/p>\n
Highlighting that examination papers undergo multiple levels of moderation and approval, the students questioned why only Prof. Shahare had been singled out. The students also raised concerns about caste-based discrimination, noting that Prof. Shahare is a Dalit academic, stating, \u201cThe suspension reflects a disturbing pattern where individuals from marginalised communities bear the brunt of punitive action, while systemic accountability is evaded,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
The students demanded immediate and permanent revocation of Prof. Shahare\u2019s suspension, the withdrawal of any legal action against him, and a public apology from the university. They also called for guarantees against scapegoating of faculty from marginalised communities. \u201cWe stand with our professor. We reject this injustice. And we will continue to speak until it is corrected,\u201d they asserted.<\/p>\n
Similarly, students of the Department of Political Science at Jamia Millia Islamia condemned the suspension, warning that such action affects not only the faculty member concerned but also the academic environment and students\u2019 right to a free and critical learning space.<\/p>\n
Earlier, several student organisations, including AIDSO, AIMSU, AIRSO, AISA, DISSC, MSF, the Fraternity Movement, SFI, and SIO, in a joint statement condemned the suspension, stating that the examination question asking students to \u201cdiscuss the atrocities against Muslim minorities in India\u201d was clearly syllabus-based and academically legitimate. KMS\u201417S<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delhi: Students of the New Delhi-based Jamia Millia Islamia have expressed strong solidarity with Dalit Professor Virendra Balaji Shahare, who was suspended by the university administration after including a question in his exam asking students to \u201cdiscuss the atrocities against Muslim minorities in India\u201d. According to Kashmir Media Service, in a statement, the Department of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":191226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/12\/35.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191227,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191225\/revisions\/191227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}