Following protests on campus and statements from academics and activists in support of her, university authorities Wednesday stated that they had advised her to avail of various extensions and leaves. Amid calls of support for activist Safoora Zargar and protests demanding that she be allowed to complete her M.Phil by Jamia Millia Islamia, the university’s administration has stated that it had already given her “another chance on humanitarian grounds” after initially notifying her in April that it would cancel her admission.
Zargar (29) is an accused in the main conspiracy case in the Northeast Delhi riots and was booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
She had been enrolled with the department of sociology in their integrated M.Phil and PhD programme since 2019. On August 26, the Dean Faculty of Social Sciences issued a notice stating that her registration has been cancelled because she did not submit her dissertation within the maximum stipulated time of five semesters in addition to a semester of Covid extension, and her supervisor’s report which stated that her progress was “unsatisfactory”.
Zargar had alleged that she has been denied extensions by the university to complete her M.Phil and that this is an attempt to “disrupt her education”.
Following protests on campus and statements from academics and activists in support of her, university authorities Wednesday stated that they had advised her to avail of various extensions and leaves.
“In the third semester, it was suggested to her to avail of the maternity leave but she chose not to do so. Later, in view of her circumstances, she was verbally advised to avail of childcare leave by the HoD, but she declined and assured the Research Advisory Committee that she would complete her work on time. During and even after the expiry of her Covid extension, she was advised to apply for extension as a woman scholar so that she may complete her work and submit it. But she did not pay heed to the advice of the supervisor and the RAC and did not file her application for extension as a woman scholar in the stipulated maximum period,” the university has claimed.
Authorities stated that they notified her on April 8 over email that the RAC was going ahead with cancellation of her admission and that the university received an application for extension as a woman scholar after that.
“Ms Safoora Zargar, in this application, had claimed that her dissertation work was complete and that she was ready to submit the same. Therefore, the RAC decided to give her another chance on humanitarian grounds and held her RAC meeting online on July 5… The RAC came to the conclusion that contrary to Ms Safoora Zargar’s claims, the dissertation work was unsatisfactory and far from complete,” reads a statement from the university.