Jamia Students Call Off Protest Over Sexual Harassment By Professor

Protesting students from Jamia Millia Islamia demanding suspension of the head of the Applied Art department on the allegation of sexual harassment called off their protest on 14 February after a meeting with officiating Vice-Chancellor Shahid Ashraf.

Professor Hafeez Ahmad, the Head of Department (HoD) of Applied Art under the Faculty of Fine Arts, has been accused by students of sexually harassing women students, intimidation and favouritism.

The department students had been protesting on campus since 31 January. But the protest turned violent on 7 February, when some female students were allegedly assaulted and molested by some male students of the same department.

On 8 February, the administration sent Hafeez Ahmad on leave until the completion of inquiry while suspending three male students for the alleged physical assault.

On the evening of 14 February, a meeting was held between a delegation of the protesting students and the university administration.

https://www.newsclick.in/jamia-students-protest-demanding-suspension-hod-accused-sexual-harassment

While the administration rejected the main demand for the suspension of the HoD, but accepted the demands of representation of students in the fact-finding committee as well as inclusion of external members such as a civil rights activist and a person working for gender justice in the committee.

Soon after the meeting with the protesting students, a statement was issued by the university administration.

“At the outset students reiterated their old demands of HoD’s suspension. It has been amply made clear to the students that within the existing framework of rules and procedures the suspension at this stage is not feasible as statutory enquiry is in progress,” it said.

“Mr Ahmad will abstain from participating in any activity of the department till the enquiry by the Internal Complaints Committee and the Fact Finding Committee is completed. The inclusion of external members in the Fact Finding Committee has also been agreed in principle,” said the statement.

After submitting the names of external members and students’ representatives to be included in the inquiry committee, the protesting students took out a march through the campus, starting from the administrative block and ending at the Faculty of Fine Arts.

Speaking to Newsclick, Farheen, a student of Applied Art who attended the meeting with the V-C, said, “We were 14 students in the meeting from different faculties, including the Faculty of Law. Our first demand was suspension of HoD Hafeez Ahamd, but the admin said they did not have the authority to suspend him without results of the inquiry. But they have debarred Hafeez from campus and from any academic or administrative activities.”

“We also demanded that teachers who may have faced any corruption or sexual harassment charges must not be included in the fact-finding committee. They agreed to this,” Farheen said.

Farheen also talked about the lack of permanent teachers in the Applied Art department, saying, “Hafeez was the single permanent teacher in our department along with 3 to 4 guest faculty members. After the protest, they appointed 3 more guest teachers, but this is not the solution.”

The student said after Hafeez was sent on leave, Prof Nuzhat Kazmi, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, has taken over as HoD of Applied Art.

Farheen added that students of Jamia did not even know where the ICC office was located on campus. “It is the responsibility of the administration to tell students where they can go with their problems in future.”

https://www.newsclick.in/protesting-women-students-allegedly-assaulted-jamia-hod-sent-leave