PhD scholar ends fast after Jamia revokes show-cause notice

After protest on July 27 by students of Jamia Millia Islamia against issuing of a show-cause notice to a PhD Scholar for talking to media about shortage of chairs in the library and other short-comings in the university, the Jamia administration took back the show-cause notice on Wednesday evening.

“The students are being harassed for raising voices against the administration. I had demanded to increase the numbers of chairs in the library and fix the problem of waterlogging in campus. For that, the administration had sent me a show-cause notice. They had also threatened to refuse to sign my research papers,” said Imran Khan, the PhD scholar. More than 100 students accompanied Khan on a strike from 9 am near Central Canteen against what they called “witch hunting” by the administration. Khan broke his fast at 6.30 pm when the administration decided to take back the show-cause notice.

“The administration was working on the demands made by the PhD scholar. More chairs and lockers for research students have been brought in and we were also working on the issue of waterlogging,” said an official from Chief Proctorial Department of JMI. “The show-cause notice was not a threat. It sought an explanation from him for not giving us enough time to act,” added the official.