Kolkata: A poster reading ‘No space for Islamophobia in JU' appeared towardsthe end of the Jadavpur University convocation held on Wednesday.
First-year PG students of the English department, who were receiving their UG degrees, were protesting against an incident at the department where a professor allegedly "harassed" two third-year UG students. The professor singled them out and asked them to remove their hijab on mere suspicion of cheating on Monday during the ongoing exam. The English department professors have completely rebutted the charges and said they will make a formal statement against it.
The students of the department also wrote a letter to VC Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, who said: "We are looking into the matter." The letter alleged that during the exam, one of the students was "singled out and accused of cheating because she was wearing a hijab… The student was asked to unpin her hijab in the examination room amidst the presence of other students," it read.
An English department student said, "When the inappropriateness of asking her to unpin the hijab was pointed out by another student, the professor insisted it should be removed in private, and took her to another room and asked her to remove it."
TOI could not reach the student through calls. The letter also mentions that the professor asked another UG3 student taking an exam in another room to remove her hijab as well.
"I went to a room where I was asked to remove the hijab. I asked her if she wanted to check if I was carrying headphones. When she said yes, I just removed a portion and made her see that I was not carrying headphones. I felt uncomfortable," the second UG3 student said.
A professor said, "For the past week, at least four students were caught cheating using headphones. They are not from the minority community. On that day, research scholars who were on invigilation duty caught a student wearing a hoodie with headphones during the exam. We were alarmed and decided to re-check students who felt suspicious to us. It should be made clear there was another student wearing a hijab, but she was not checked. A physically disabled student wearing a hijab was also taking the exam at the library, but she was not checked."
Another professor said, "We are disturbed by such actions of students. If teachers are targeted like this, it will be difficult for us to perform our duties. None of my colleagues are Islamophobic."
Earlier, the VC and governor, ex-officio chancellor of state-run universities, C V Ananda Bose oversaw the 68th annual convocation, where more than 4,400 students received degrees and certificates. Bose had skipped the JU convocation 2023 and 2024 due to the "unethical actions" by former VCs.