AMU suspends student for ‘dissent’

Hossain,from West Bengal,is the 149th student to be suspended or rusticated during the term of VC PK Abdul Aziz,according to the RTI data compiled by former AMU student Shahzad Alam.

Hossain is not new to suspension. He was suspended last October for being part of a student unrest following the murder of an AMU student.

He had been the current administration’s most vocal and credible student critic. He had always stuck his neck out,and had no qualms coming on record with his comments to The Indian Express about various issues despite the possibility of a witch-hunt.

Notable among them was the strong anti-administration stand he took post the suspension and alleged suicide of

S R Siras,who was found dead on April 7. The Reader of Marathi was suspended for being homosexual.

Hossain has been suspended for writing against the University. “It has been reported and alleged that student supra is incessantly indulging in rumour mongering,canard spreading,defaming the Aligarh Muslim University and depicting the entire institutional infrastructure and administrative apparatus in [sic poor light,” said Hossein’s suspension letter,dated June 3.

With his suspension,Hossain joins the long list of suspended Mass Communications students,including his senior Irfan Khan,who was at the forefront of last October’s unrest,and Afaq Ahmad,whose suspension came soon after he went on record about the University to The Sunday Express.

“The above mentioned student further adamantly lowered down and tarnished the image of the University by resorting to and misusing the Internet (AMU Network). Moreover,he is continuously making misstatements,averments and utterances without any plausible proof or credible evidence on Internet…,” the letter of suspension said.

The letter lists two yahoo-groups,The Aligarh Forum and also the World of Aligs,along with the popular AMU Network as places where Hossain recorded his dissent. “All these are moderated forums. Alumni,current students and teachers — past and present — are members,and we discuss all aspects of the University. There are heated debates,and members are passionate about the University. It is sad that the administration has moved against someone who was working to improve the system,” said a Reader at the University,who is a member of the said groups.

The issues on which Adil Hossain dealt with online,irking the administration are,“sending the body of the deceased student,installation of the CCTV cameras and sanctioning of money for their repair being pocketed by the officials of the University.”

“A student died recently at the Aligarh Railway Station. His body had to be sent to his hometown in Bihar,and the University could not even find an air-conditioned ambulance that would ensure that the body would not decompose. I had written about the incident in various yahoo-groups,” said Hossain on Saturday.

Hossain has been asked to move out of the campus. He was not served a show-cause notice before the suspension,as is the norm at AMU. “Earlier,only hardcore criminals would be served a campus ban. I can’t go back there now as I suspect they will hand me over to police if they see me on campus,” said Hossain. The university had also ordered Siras to move out of campus on February 9,2010,but he was not to leave Aligarh.