Hyderabad: Can eating beef be a criteria for someone to be denied admission into a university? If so, under what rule?
This is the question a student from Kerala is asking the Vice-Chancellor of the Hyderabad-based English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU).
Jalees Kodur, who completed his MA in Arabic last year, cleared the entrance test for a PhD programme but his name did not appear in the two lists of students who got admission for the course.
When he contacted the Proctor of the University, Prof Prakash Konur, he was informed that he was not granted admission because he had participated in a ‘Beef Festival’ in the university last year.
Jalees has denied that he participated in the Beef Festival held by some Dalit organisations. “I was among the people who had gathered to watch the proceedings. I was neither among the organisers nor one of those who partook in the festival,” he said.
He said that he was not aware of any criminal case registered against him and demanded admission to the university contending that eating beef can not be used as a ground to deny admission.
He has written a letter to the university vice-chancellor seeking a written reply stating that he was being denied admission on the grounds that he had eaten beef.
The incident has left other students at the university shocked. The university had last year witnessed high drama over the Beef Festival organised by some Dalit groups and Leftist student organisations and the police had used force to confiscate the food cooked for the occasion and also baton-charged participants.
Authorities say 25 students from EFLU along with the students of Osmania University had taken part in the event held in December last.
Proctor Prakash Konur defended the action against Jalees saying a criminal case was pending against him at the University police station. “The High Court had confirmed the prohibitory orders issued by the lower court against conducting the Beef Festival,” he said.
Jalees Kodur on the other hand said that he was not aware of any such case. “They say case was booked several months ago but not even once I was informed about it by the police or the university. Also they did not show any proof of the same when I went to the university to take my hall ticket,” he said.
