JNU Persian teacher in plagiarism row

NEWDELHI: A teacher at the Centre for Persian and Central Asian Studies, has been accused of “plagiarising” his unpublished PHD thesis in 1993. The registrar’s office has issued a warning letter. The professor, Syed Akhtar Husain, has however denied these charges.

Husain is the second teacher facing plagiarism charges at the centre. According to experts’ report submitted to the executive council of JNU in March, Husain had reproduced a printed manuscript as his own edition in 1993, and submitted the handwritten one to fulfil his PHD requirement.

Pramod Kumar, JNU registrar said,“the experts’ reports were discussed in the executive council. We had also sent a letter to him. We can only confirm the EC’S decision, after there is an action taken report submitted.”

The registrar refused to confirm the contents of the letter. Husain, said experts accused him of plagiarism and that the registrar office had warned him.

“They are lying. No one before or after me has edited the manuscript, so whose work would I have plagiarised. This warning letter is also nonsense. What does he mean I should be more careful in the future? Do they think I am planning to do another PHD?” Husain asked, alleging a nexus between the complainants and the experts.

On Friday, the Delhi high court heard a PIL against an associate professor, SK Ishtiaque Ahmed, accused of plagiarising his PHD thesis. The court issued notices to JNU, Ahmed and others, before listing the matter for August 10. The court also said that professors plagiarising work should be shown the door, and criminal action should be initiated against them. Ishtiaque has refused the charges.