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NEW DELHI: The former chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University Firoz Bakht Ahmed has written to Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, alleging religious discrimination, administrative apathy and institutional failure at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and seeking an independent central probe into the matter. In his letter, Ahmed flagged the case of Rachana Kaushal, a widowed professor of political science at AMU, who has allegedly faced harassment and discrimination over the past decade on religious grounds. Ahmed said Kaushal, who has been serving in AMU since 1998, has repeatedly approached the VC since Sept last year, but no meaningful action has been taken on her complaint. Kaushal said, “The chairperson and the dean have been harassing me for the past few years, which I initially ignored. However, the harassment reached a point where I was compelled to approach the VC… my promotion was stalled in 2017. I was promoted only after an HC directive.” She added: “At the time, a campaign was organised against me, and I have audio recordings wherein the issue was communalised with claims that I had said I was denied promotion because I am Hindu. I never mentioned my religion in any of my representations or in my court petition…”
