On 15th July, Delhi Police registered an FIR against Professor Nazim Hussain Al Jafri, Mohammad Nasim Haidar and Professor Shahid Tasleem of Jamia Millia Islamia University under Sections 3(1)(p) and 3(1)(q) of the SC/ST Act. The FIR was registered on the complaint of Ram Niwas Singh who was working as an Assistant in the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University. OpIndia accessed copy of FIR.
Nazim Hussain Al-Jafri is the Official Registrar, Nasim Haider is the Deputy Registrar and Shahid Tasleem is a professor at the University. Ram Niwas Singh, who is a Dalit employee at the University, has accused them of misconduct including hurling caste-based slurs against him, dehumanising treatment and forcing him to convert to Islam.
In his complaint, Ram Niwas Singh said that he joined the University as an Upper Division Clerk on 30th March 2007 under the reserved category and is currently working as an Assistant in the Faculty of Natural Sciences. He was on deputation as an Assistant in IHBAS from 1st December 2015 to 30th November 2021 and rejoined Jamia on 1st December 2021. He sought No Objection Certificates from the officials at the University so that he could apply for high positions but the requests were rejected without any reason.
He added that he was transferred multiple times within the University merely after a gap of 2-3 months on the pretext of administrative reasons. He also filed a case at the National Commission for Scheduled Castes . He added that no one in the University was being denied opportunities for professional growth the way he was.
Upon learning about the complaint to NCSC, Al-Jafri called him to his office on 13th April 2023 at 12:30 PM as instructed by one Kaneez Fatima. He was made to wait outside Al-Jafri’s office for hours before getting called in. When he entered the office, there were some unknown persons along with Al-Jafri.
During the meeting, Al-Jafri said, “What kind of employee are you, Ramniwas? You are taking money from this University, your children are being raised here. You cannot directly go to the commission.” After a few minutes, the unknown person left his chamber. He then humiliated Singh and said, “You belong to a lower caste, you are a Bhangi, and you should remain as such. People like you get jobs based on reservations but still do not know their place. Do not forget that Jamia is a Muslim university, and your job is at our mercy.”
He was threatened to be implicated in a false and fabricated case of sexual harassment leading to his possible termination. He was asked not to approach higher authorities against Al-Jafri and casteist remarks were used by him.
Singh could only record the initial part of the conversion as Al-Jafri noticed the phone and snatched it away. A few days later, he noticed advertisements dated 29th April 2023 for the post of Assistant Registrar and Section Officer but there was no reservation for the SC/ST candidates. He then moved to the Delhi High Court seeking reservation as it was his constitutional right. On 16th June 2023, the Delhi High Court directed the University to keep one post vacant for the petitioners in each category under which they had applied.
Following the court order, Ram Niwas Singh was subjected to continuous torture at the University, as per the complaint. A false and fabricated complaint was registered at the behest of Al-Jafri by Professor Shahid Tasleem allegedly to hamper his professional growth. He was served a show cause notice without forwarding the actual complaint against him. Sometime later, he got a copy of the complaint to which he filed an official reply.
Furthermore, when he applied for the post of Manager on a deputation basis at Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure & Development Corporation (DSIIDC), his application was deliberately forwarded incomplete without his ACRs and Vigilance Clearance. It was only after he followed up with the office, that the Vigilance Clearance and ACRs were sent with a gap of over three months after the last date of application.
Singh pointed out that the show cause notice was mentioned in the Vigilance Clearance which he termed as a “blatant exhibition of caste-based discrimination”. When he talked to his former HOD Shahid Tasleem, he was informed that the Al-Jafri forced Tasleem to file a written complaint against him. Sometime later, he met Al-Jafri again in his chamber requesting him to stop the humiliation, caste-based discrimination and mental torture.
At that time, he was advised to convert to Islam by Al-Jafri, as per his complaint. He said, “Bring faith, and I’ll fix everything. Recite the Kalma, and everything will be fine. I’ll secure your children’s future too. What have you gained from Hinduism? Jamia transformed Sachin into Muhammad Ali and set his life. He got a permanent job as a driver because he brought faith.”
Singh said he met Al-Jafri several times to close the complaint but he was threatened repeatedly. Jafri kept saying, “I will never close your complaint. You challenged Jamia’s minority status, and you will pay the price for it. Jamia is an institution for Muslims, not for infidels.” He used derogatory language against Singh including “jahil”, “chamar”, “bhangi” and “kaafir”.
Jamia Millia Islamia and its history of controversies
Jamia Millia Islamia has been named in controversies multiple times. Atrocities against SC/ST employees have been reported on several occassions and the Vice Chancellor of the University was also summoned by National Commission for Scheduled Castes on 2023.
On 18th May, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Government of India, summoned Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Professor Najma Akhtar to participate in an investigation initiated based on a complaint pertaining to the arbitrary scrapping of SC/ST reservation in recruitment to the teaching and non-teaching positions and promotions. The complaint was filed by Bhupendra Pal Singh Chamar, International President, World Dalit Counsel, and State President, Akhil Bhartiya Chamar Mahar Jatav Mahasabha on 11th May. Akhtar was asked to submit the facts and action taken on the allegations within seven days of the receipt of the notice.
In his complaint filed on 11th May, Bhupendra said that his organisation came across the matter of abrogating the constitutionally mandated government of India scheme of Reservation for SC/ST community in a publicly funded, Central University i.e. Jamia Millia Islamia. Bhupendra said that the SC/ST community has been deprived of the rights in the University without any intervention from the Ministry of Education, University Grants Commission, or Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment of the Government of India. He pointed out an advertisement published by the university on 29th April 2023, of non-teaching posts that violated the reservation roster of SC/ST. He further added that the university wilfully violated the UGC guidelines issued in October 2021 regarding the reservation roster. Notably, Bhupendra and Ram Niwas both filed complaints against missing SC/ST quota in posts mentioned in advertisements on 29th April 2023.
The matter related to SC/ST reservation is sub-judice
In 2022, Jamia VC was summoned by the commission over a similar matter based on a complaint submitted by one Harender Kumar. In his complaint, Kumar, who belonged to Scheduled Caste, alleged that he had faced discrimination by the University authorities. Kumar was appointed as a guest computer teacher in a school run by the University. He alleged that he was illegally terminated from the University from his job following a conspiracy hatched against him by the top officials of the University.
Kumar said that a fabricated complaint was filed against him through a female teacher by the Principal of the school. It was alleged that Kumar was asked to do menial work such as making tea and washing the utensils for the Principal. He said, “The genesis of the complaint was deeply embedded in caste and religion-based discrimination.” When Kumar resisted doing such work as it was a public denigration of his identity, a conspiracy was allegedly hatched against him, and he was falsely accused of harassing a female employee of the school.
The case of abolishing reservation for SC/ST in appointment and promotion
Jamia Millia Islamia, which is a Central Government-funded University, is under the scanner for doing away with the reservation for SC/ST in appointments and promotions based on the complaint by Kumar. Notably, Jamia Millia Islamia has been avoiding appointments and promotions of candidates from the SC/ST community despite being a Centre-funded university.
There is a pending case in the Delhi High Court challenging National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) order that granted Religious Minority Institute status to the University in 2011. The NCMEI had said in its order, “Jamia was founded by the Muslims for the benefit of Muslims, and it never lost its identity as a Muslim minority educational institution”. It added the University was thus, “covered under Article 30(1), read with Section 2(g) of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions Act”.
The order was challenged in the Delhi High Court soon after the orders were passed. Despite the pending case, the University scrapped SC/ST reservations and approved religion-based appointments and reservations in 2014, citing the NCMEI order of 2011.
The Centre had opposed the NCMEI order granting Jamia minority status
In 2018, the Government of India submitted a fresh affidavit in the Delhi High Court against the affidavit submitted by the previous government and opposed the minority status given to Jamia Millia Islamia University by NCMEI. As per reports, in the fresh affidavit, the GoI cited the Supreme Court’s decision in the Azeez Basha Vs Union of India case of 1968. The Centre said that the first affidavit submitted by the previous government did not consider the said judgment. In the 1968 judgment, the apex court had said that a university incorporated under an Act of Parliament could not claim the status of a minority institute.
