Former Delhi University ad-hoc professor booked for opening ‘pakoda’ stall outside varsity
Dr Ritu Singh started the 'pakoda' stall after 192 days of protest outside the Arts Faculty against alleged caste harassment and illegal termination from services
New Delhi | Updated: March 7, 2024 22:46 IST
An ad-hoc psychology professor, Dr Singh joined the Daulatram College in 2019 but was removed within a year, and her contract was not renewed. (Instagram/ Dr Ritu Singh)
The Delhi Police on Thursday said they booked Dr Ritu Singh, a former ad-hoc professor of Delhi University, for allegedly encroaching an area outside the varsity premises with her ‘pakoda’ stall.
“We sent a team to remove the stall as it was impeding public movement in the area,” said a senior police officer. An FIR has been registered against Dr Singh under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation).
A former ad-hoc psychology professor, 28-year-old woman from the Dalit community took to frying pakoras earlier this week, after 192 days of protest outside the Arts Faculty against alleged caste harassment and illegal termination from services. Dr Singh had joined Daulatram College in 2019 but was removed within a year, and her contract was not renewed.
On this, Dr Singh told The Indian Express, “I have no job, so I took to the streets to sell ‘pakodas’ to make my own bread in this very same university that awarded me my degree. This is where I am, after being wrongly terminated from my services.”
“There have been several attempts to silence my protest against the injustice which took place. My cart ‘PhD pakode wali’ is also part of my protest… I started this cart on Sunday, without causing any inconvenience to anyone at gate number 4 of the Arts Faculty, where I earlier held my protest… A day or two later, police visited the spot, asking me for my licence for the cart and threatened me to leave the premises… I could have been served a notice in a dignified manner, but what was the need to book me under a case for this?” she asked.
Dr Singh said she would return to the university on Friday to run a mobile cart and make a special statement on International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8 every year.
In August 2020, Dr Singh was not given the joining letter, following which, she took the matter to the Delhi High Court.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 07-03-2024 at 16:59 IST
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