A controversial tweet by a Jamia Millia Islamia professor stating that he had "failed 15 non-Muslim students" in an exam led to a flurry of criticism, prompting the university to suspend him and order an inquiry against him on Thursday.
Professor Dr Abrar Ahmed, however, said his tweet had been "misunderstood" and he had posted it as a "satire" on how minorities are being "targeted" by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
"All my students r (are) passed except 15 non muslims, who've to re-appear #CAA. If you protest #CAAProtests, I have 55 students in my favour #caasupport. Majority will teach U lesson if protest not ends #riot. Due to #corona your symbols of protest be erased. I wonder why they hate me?" Ahmed said in a tweet on Wednesday.
He later deleted the tweet.
Jamia on Thursday said it had suspended Ahmed for inciting communal disharmony.
"Dr. Abrar Ahmad, Asstt Professor of @jmiu_official tweeted in public domain as to failing 15 non-muslim students in an exam. This is a serious misconduct inciting communal disharmony under CCS CONDUCT RULES. The university suspends him pending inquiry. @DrRPNishank @HRDMinistry," the varsity said in a tweet.
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In a social media post, Ahmed said his tweet was "misinterpreted" and "misunderstood".
"It was a Satire, Parody, a co-relation to explain how Minorities are being targeted by CAA and it would as Bad as a teacher saying that all minority students are failed and have to reappear," he said.
He added that no such examination had been conducted during this session and all students had passed in the exams held in the previous semester.
Ahmed said, "The only mistake I have done is to accommodate so many concepts in so less words (Twitter limit), and this Satire or Sarcasm has been taken in sense that was not intended."
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