The student activists blurted out, saying, "It is not a small decision to be taken; you are canceling the admission of an MPhil scholar, that too, after three long years of hard work. For this, I had to work hard during the pandemic. I was pregnant, was in jail, harassed online, and attacked by the state.”
Ahmed Kasim | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — Student activist Safoora Zargar had hogged the headlines in 2020 when she was arrested and incarcerated under the draconian UAPA for her alleged involvement in the communal violence that had broke out in northeast Delhi that claimed 53 lives when she was pregnant. She is currently in the limelight for making allegation of discrimination against the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) where she is currently doing her MPhil.
Safoora accuses the university of denying her permission to submit her thesis by “refusing” her an extension after the one given at the time of Covid pandemic whereas as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) rules a student can avail of five extensions. She alleged in a tweet that while the UGC has granted five consecutive Covid extensions why she has been given only one.
Recounting her plight, she wrote, “I have been made to run from pillar to post for the extensions that are easily given to other scholars in the university. I have faced severe abuse at the hands of my Supervisor and my department.”
Speaking to Clarion India, Safoora Zargar said she is going through a mental stress. “It is not a small decision to be taken; you are canceling the admission of an MPhil scholar, that too, after three long years of hard work. For this, I had to work hard during the pandemic. I was pregnant, was in jail, harassed online, and attacked by the state. Despite all this, I never compromised with my work, submitted everything on time, and today finally I am not being allowed to submit my work.”
She said, “I have tried hard to meet the VC and the registrar, have written many emails, written details application, done all, yet have not got any response. I have been asking this question to the Jamia administration for two years. Why are students not being listened? I have come to know through the media that my consultation has been passed. Finally, I don’t know the fate of my work.”
She pointed out that for any scholar his thesis is like his child. It is very close to you. And when you work hard, you get very attached to your the work. It has been the same for her.
“I was imprisoned, I got bail on humanitarian grounds, I still can’t go out of Delhi. I go to court many times in a month. During these visits my work, my thesis is affected. After putting in so much hard work that too is being taken away from me,” she lamented.
A senior official, on behalf of the administration, however, claimed that Zargar was given three extensions and that there was no provision for any further Covid extensions. “As per the UGC guidelines and as per the relevant JMI ordinance, the MPhil dissertation has to be submitted after the completion of three semesters. After that, there is a maximum provision of two more extensions ie the 4th and then 5th semester,” said the official.
The official said that Zargar was given these two extensions. “Over and above those two extensions, she was also given a Covid extension of a semester ie the 6th semester, as per UGC notification. She did not complete her dissertation before the expiry of the Covid extension that came to an end on 6 February 2022. There is no provision for any further Covid extension as per the UGC notification as the scholar has been claiming,” he said.
The university alleged that Zargar had not applied for the extension as a woman scholar within the stipulated time.
The administration also claimed that “from time to time, the scholar was encouraged by the supervisor to do fieldwork and complete her work from time to time. But the scholar did not make any progress in her work as suggested by the RAC. Her past report had also been showing unsatisfactory progress. But she was given three extensions to finish her work but she did not complete her work”.
But Safoora claims that the “Administration is lying”. “If Jamia says that Covid-19 extension can be given only once, then it is a complete lie. It’s is a violation of Article 14. Two or three Covid extensions have been given in the university. But this has happened in all the universities. Why then only I am being targeted? I don’t know why this is being done but whatever is happening I am very mentally disturbed because of it,” she asked.
“I was called a rioter in the department. I was told that because of students like me, the department gets blacklisted. I have been repeatedly taunted that you do not do any work. You just come. They forcibly tried to send me on maternity leave to Gaya. We are called terrorists… we are abused… the government has a problem with our protesting, we have problem with our studies, how long will we be treated like this?”