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HC comes to Bhopal student’s rescue, calls her rustication ‘violation’ of justice

Asma Khan had allegedly called the teachers unpatriotic after Bhagat Kranti Dal (BKD), an organisation she belongs to, was denied permission to hold a function to mark death anniversary of Bhagat Singh.

HC comes to Bhopal student’s rescue, calls her rustication ‘violation’ of justice Quashing the rustication order, issued on March 21 this year, Justice Sujoy Paul observed that it cannot stand judicial scrutiny.

Eight months after an undergraduate student of a government college in Bhopal was rusticated over a Facebook post that she purportedly wrote and called teachers unpatriotic, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has set aside the rustication order, calling it “flagrant violation of the principle of natural justice”.

Quashing the rustication order, issued on March 21 this year, Justice Sujoy Paul observed that it cannot stand judicial scrutiny. The court allowed the student to appear for annual examination.  Asma Khan, then a second-year student of MVM College, had allegedly called the teachers unpatriotic after Bhagat Kranti Dal (BKD), an organisation she belongs to, was denied permission to hold a function to mark death anniversary of Bhagat Singh.

According to the student outfit, the college authorities denied permission under pressure from ABVP, the students’ wing of the RSS, as three ABVP members had lost to BKD candidates in students’ elections held last year.

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BKD members contended that they had held the event over the last few years, and held an indefinite fast in protest.
Both the BKD and the ABVP wanted to observe the event but college authorities denied permission to both on the ground that the venue was not meant for private functions.

According to the authorities, Asma began a Facebook campaign and urged the “alumni and all patriotic students to support BKD in this fight for honour of martyrs”.  She posted, “When they should have been studying, students have been forced to launch an indefinite hunger strike to wipe out seditious (rashtradohi) ideology from college. It’s a strange irony that there is an educational institution in India where students are patriotic and teachers unpatriotic.”

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Before it was deleted, the post was widely circulated and criticised, including by ABVP supporters, who wanted action against Asma. After a meeting, the college staff council decided to rusticate Asma for a year, calling her comments objectionable and an act of indiscipline. “You have called all teachers traitors (rashtradohi) and also said that the college fosters seditious ideology,’’ the order stated.

While the staff council wanted Asma to apologise for the post in lieu of cancelling the order, she refused, saying she had not been allowed to present her side of the story before the decision was taken.

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On Friday, college principal Neeraj Agnihotri on Friday told The Indian Express that he is yet to read the order. He said the staff council had unanimously decided to rusticate her and the council will meet again to take a call on the court’s order.

In her petition, Asma had argued that she was rusticated on the basis of incorrect and uncertified things published on social media. The petitioner did not admit that the comment was posted by her on Facebook — she held “anti-social elements” responsible. The government advocate submitted in court that the Facebook post was highly objectionable and shows her “extreme indiscipline”.

First uploaded on: 01-12-2018 at 02:14 IST
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