A week after the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) condemned the discrimination and humiliation of Assistant Professor Rosina Nasir (40), now multiple women’s organisations have come in support of the victimized professor to stand in solidarity with her.
The statement issued by the organisations to support Prof Nasir, in her battle against gender and religious discrimination at workplace, read “We, the undersigned national women’s organisations strongly condemn and express serious concern at the continuous discrimination and harassment of Dr Rosina Nasir, Assistant Professor, Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy (CSSEIP) since the last three years by the JNU Vice Chancellor and administration. This continued harassment is a result of the targeting which is gender and religion based as evidenced in multiple forms of continued discrimination.”
Prof Nasir in her letter to the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC) had stated that “I was denied the key to access the class-cum-committee room by the Centre Chairperson Prof. Chinna Rao, services like telephone, official internet connection, official email id, and my webpage profile were declined and blocked. I was not allowed to teach students and students were discouraged to get enrolled in my offered course. It is humiliating.” She adds that she is being driven to suicide because of this “isolation, exclusion, and creation of an unfamiliar and hostile environment.” Reportedly, she has also been served with an eviction notice from her JNU quarters.
Prof Nasir approached the DMC which passed an interim order on July 19 and held, “We feel that, prima facie, the complainant is being harassed and humiliated in gross misuse of powers by the accused persons and find her claim that this is being done only for her being a Muslim is, prima facie, quite credible.” It even ordered the accused Vice-Chancellor and Chairperson of the centre to respond to the complaint by August 1, release her salary forthwith and ordered the JNU administration to not evict Prof Nasir from her quarters. Though the administration has ordered the release of her salary in the last few days, they have not revoked the eviction order.
The signatories to the recent letter by women’s organisations include- Mariam Dhawale of All India Democratic Women’s Association, Annie Raja of National Federation of Indian Women, Kavita Krishnan of All India Progressive Women’s Association, Jyotsna Chatterjee of Joint Women’s Programme and Sayeeda Hamid of Muslim Women’s Forum.
The letter further reads, “Every attempt is being made by the administration and the Chairperson to make it difficult for her to continue in her job because of her gender and religious identity..We the undersigned, support the courageous struggle of Dr Rosina Nasir, and call upon the Administration to immediately stop the discrimination and continued harassment that she is being been subjected to. We demand an immediate revocation of the orders that mandates her eviction and stops her from continuing her academic activities. We further, demand that the persons responsible for this harassment should be held accountable and disciplinary proceedings should be started against them. We urge all women’s organisation to stand in solidarity with Dr Nasir.”
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