Muslim Prof appointment row: BHU students resume protest, lock staff building

“We have resumed our sit-in protest and have locked the faculty building. The answers given by the administration are far from satisfactory. The answers are not connected to what we asked. We have a simple demand — let the professor (Khan) teach in any faculty of the university other than SVDV. We are not going to let the administration ignore our demand anymore. Some administrative meetings will be held in the university and we are waiting for them to present their side. If our demands are not met, then we will plan something bigger,” said Shashikant Mishra, SVDV PhD student and one of those leading the protest.

Other than the SVDV faculty, Khan has also applied in the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Ayurveda. While he had recently appeared in an interview for the Samhita and Sanskrit Department of Ayurveda faculty, another interview for the Sanskrit Department of Arts faculty is scheduled on Wednesday.

“As Khan has applied in the Ayurveda as well as the Arts faculty, we are not going to put any pressure. It is better if he teaches in any of these faculties. There is no doubt that he is a learned man and has the right to teach, but being a non-Hindu he cannot teach in the SVDV faculty,” said Mishra.

Read | As Muslim Sanskrit professor leaves for home, BHU students come out in his support

Earlier, the students had given a list of five questions to the administration, which included “if the shortlisting and appointment process in the Samhita Department was similar to other departments, if the process followed the rules of Sanatan Dharam as per the SVDV tradition, and if the rules of UGC and BHU Act of 1904, 1906, 1915, 1951, 1966 and 1969 were followed”.

In its reply, the administration has said the shortlisting and appointment in the university were completed as per the present BHU Act and the UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2018.

In a fresh set of questions, the students have now asked the administration to provide documents to support their answers and give details about when and how a change in SVDV Special Act was made.

University Chief Proctor O P Rai said the administration was talking to the students.