Afifulllah Khan, the Proctor of Aligarh Muslim University, has resigned from his post. An official release said Prof. Khan had tendered his resignation and that Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor has accepted it and appointed Mohd. Wasim Ali, a professor in the Department of Law, in his place.
AMU students have been demanding his resignation, along with that of the V-C and Registrar, for allowing the police to enter the campus on December 15, 2019. The demand grew louder when the proctorial team nabbed two students and a former student for heckling the V-C during his Republic Day speech and handed them over to the district administration.
The university's official spokesperson said Prof. Khan had cited personal reasons for his decision.
However, sources said his resignation had been sought in an attempt to defuse the situation and is a sort of 'reward' for the students who have returned to classes.
“It could embolden the students to continue with their other demands. The administration wanted to show that they were responding to students’ demands and Prof. Khan, who is not known to be part of the university’s power centre, was the easiest among the four whose resignation was being sought by students,” said a teacher, requesting anonymity.
Faizul Hasan, former president of the Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union, described Prof. Khan’s resignation as a “victory in the fight for justice”. “We will continue to demand the resignation of the V-C, Registrar and Dean of Students’ Welfare even as our protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act will continue,” he said.
In a related development, the protesting students held a condolence meeting for the infant who died because of winter chill at the ongoing Shaheen Bagh protest.
5 students booked
Meanwhile, five students of AMU have been booked for burning the effigies of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and U.P. CM Yogi Adityanath during protests against the CAA. Circle Officer Anil Sharma said they had been booked for raising slogans against Mr. Shah and Mr. Adityanath and burning their effigies at Duck Point inside the AMU campus.
They were protesting against the recent law and order problems in the State during the ongoing anti-CAA demonstrations.
When contacted for details of the charges against the students, AMU officials said, “We are awaiting details”.
(With PTI inputs)
