Jamia cancels Safoora Zargar's admission

New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University has cancelled the admission of scholar and activist Safoora Zargar, who was arrested in a 2020 riots case, due to "unsatisfactory" progress in her thesis work.

Zargar, who had enrolled with the Department of Sociology in the integrated MPhil/PhD programme, said the cancellation "breaks my heart but not my spirit".

In a notification dated August 26, office of the dean, Faculty of Social Science, said she did not submit her M.Phil dissertation within the maximum stipulated time of five semesters.

"The registration of Safoora Zargar from M.Phil./Ph.D. (Sociology) stands cancelled w.e.f. 22 August, 2022, in anticipation of the approval of the same of the Faculty Committee," the notification read.

The dean's office mentioned that the action has been taken on the recommendation given by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) on July 5. The matter was approved by the department's Board of Studies, the highest decision-making body of the department, on August 22.