The Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) has sent a notice to the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration, asking it to set up an enquiry against Professor Amita Singh for making alleged “Islamophobic comments” against the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) general secretary. The administration has been told to submit a report by January 28.
In December last year, JNUSU general secretary Aejaz Ahmad Rather complained to the DMC and other institutions, alleging that Singh called him a “convict of 10 bomb blasts” following a verbal altercation.
Singh, however, said this “fake news” was the work of a group led by “Kashmiri Muslim separatists”. “This was the objective… this is not externally driven, but from my centre itself where a strong group of separatist Kashmiri Muslims… roam around with a clear purpose, which gets defeated due to my presence. Administration is too weak and naive to take a focused shot at these in-built armies,” she alleged.
The DMC’s January 18 letter, addressed to the JNU Registrar, stated, “Shri Aejaz Ahmad Rather… has complained to this Commission that a certain teacher, Prof Amita Singh of the Centre for the Study of Law & Governance, subjected him and other students to abuses and Islamophobic comments.”
“You are directed to hold an enquiry about this allegation, take appropriate action if the allegations are true and file a report with this Commission by January 28…” it further read.
Confirming the notice, DMC Chairman Zafarul Islam Khan said, “We posted the notice on January 23.” Registrar Pramod Kumar and Rector I Chintamani Mahapatra remained unavailable for comment.
