New Delhi: Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia has suspended a faculty member from its department of social work after the university received complaints about a question on atrocities against Muslims in India in an end-semester examination paper.In an order dated December 23, the university stated that it received several complaints regarding the paper, set by Professor Virendra Balaji Shahare. Titled ‘Social Problems in India’, it was set for the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Social Work, Semester I, of the 2025-26 academic session. One of the questions in the paper asked students to “discuss the atrocities against Muslim minorities in India, giving suitable examples.” Hindutva organisations and their supporters raised a kerfuffle over this on social media. However, several students have expressed solidarity with the professor, highlighting the degrading state of democratic autonomy of educational institutions in the country.Circled in picture is the question in an examination paper of B.A. (Hons) in Social Work, Semester I, that has stirred a row at Jamia Millia Islamia. Photo: By arrangementThe Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s Jawaharlal Nehru University unit issued a statement questioning the appropriateness of the question and alleging ideological bias. It also linked the question to the alleged violence against Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh.Several other posts of right-wing supporters have termed the question as “provocative” and “communally polarising”, with some of them highlighting how the varsity is funded by “tax money”.Soon after the complaints, Jamia’s registrar office issued an order stating that the university had taken “serious view on the negligence and carelessness on the part of Prof. Virendra Balaji Shahare”.“In this matter, on the instruction of competent authority, the paper setter Prof. Virendra Balaji Shahare, Department of Social Work, JMI is placed under suspension till further orders and Police FIR will be filed as per rules,” the order stated.Also read: Why the Suspension of a Jamia Professor Over a Question Paper Should Worry UsAccording to the suspension letter seen by PTI, the vice-chancellor, acting under Statute 37(1) of the Statutes of the University, has ordered that Shahare be placed under suspension with immediate effect pending an inquiry.The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA), which also circulated the question paper, has described it as a matter of “serious concern” and alleged that the question promoted a “one-sided” narrative in a centrally-funded university, The Times of India reported.DUTA has called for an immediate review of the question paper and the syllabus, and urged the Union education ministry as well as the University Grants Commission to take note of the matter.Meanwhile, the Fraternity Movement, a student group of Jamia Millia Islamia, has asked for the revocation of the suspension order, stating that Shahare is a professor “with an extensive and distinguished academic career”.The group pointed out that the question in contention “is explicitly located within the prescribed syllabus under Unit Il, Social Problems and Social Work Intervention, sub-topic (c): Atrocities against women, children, SC ST and minorities” and therefore “constitutes legitimate syllabus-based academic assessment and does not deviate from approved curricular content.”The suspension order despite this, the group said, “represents an unprecedented and disproportionate response to a purely academic exercise conducted strictly within the framework of the syllabus.”“Jamia Millia Islamia, a university that emerged during the freedom struggle and holds minority status granted on the basis of Islam, has historically been a centre for critical thought, social engagement, and academic courage. The present suspension stands in sharp contradiction to this legacy,” the statement added, expressing solidarity with the professor.Also read: Watch | What Does it Feel Like to Be a Muslim in Modi’s India?Over the last decade, there has been a rise in incidents of atrocities against Muslims in India. Earlier this month, a cloth vendor in Bihar’s Nawada district was robbed, assaulted and branded with a hot iron. He later succumbed to his injuries. There have also been a number of incidents where ‘cow protectors’ have killed Muslims over allegations of cattle smuggling.In November this year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released an India-specific issue update that pointed to the systemic religious persecution in India and claimed “the implementation of national and state-level laws create severe restrictions on religious freedom across the country.”It particularly highlighted that the “interconnected relationship” between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the RSS, which it describes as a “Hindu nationalist group,” has led to “creation and enforcement of several discriminatory pieces of legislation, including citizenship, anti-conversion, and cow slaughter laws.”According to the report, hundreds of Christians and Muslims have been arrested under anti-conversion laws, with 70% of India’s inmates being pre-trial detainees and religious minorities disproportionately represented.