Career on hold: DU scholar debarred over controversial BBC documentary

Thirty-year-old Lokesh Chugh, one of the two students debarred from Delhi University (DU) over his alleged role in the screening of the controversial British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots, said his career had been put on hold. On May 23, the Delhi High Court issued a notice on Chugh's plea and sought a response from the DU and other authorities.

• On January 27, a few student groups planned the screening of the BBC documentary.
• However, Delhi University didn't grant them permission, and some of them were detained by the police.
• On March 10, Chugh received a notice that debarred him from taking exams for a year.
• The student's claim is that he had submitted his thesis on March 3, before the proctor office's order.

In his petition, Chugh alleged that the university was not acting on his request to let him submit his Ph.D. thesis despite the high court's order. The court, which had quashed the university's debarment order in April, said the matter will be next heard on July 17. Chugh is also the national secretary of the Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI).

When Chugh first moved the high court on April 13, he claimed that he was not present at the protest site and did not facilitate or participate in the film screening in any way on January 27. In response, Delhi University said he was the "mastermind" of the protests and that his actions amounted to gross indiscipline.

Meanwhile, Chugh's lawyer told The Quint that he has been involved in politics for a few years and the university has a political vendetta against him. "The order came in April and the debarment was set aside by the Delhi HC. Why then is the university being this obstinate?" he said. Chugh is a research scholar in the Anthropology Department, Faculty of Science.