india

Updated: Nov 14, 2014 19:31 IST

The Allahabad high court on Friday termed the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) ban on entry of Abdullah Women’s College girls into the Maulana Azad Library as illegal and issued notices to the AMU vice chancellor and the registrar to explain as to on what basis the girls were banned. The women’s college is a constituent of AMU.

The two officials have been directed to file their reply by November 24 when the court will hear the case again.

A division bench of chief justice Dr DY Chandrachud and justice PKS Baghel issued the above direction on a PIL by law interns Diksha Dwivedi, Charlie Prakash, Abhijeet Chattejee and Sakshi Singh.

The court observed that no discrimination on the basis of caste, gender and religion could be allowed as per Article 14 and 15 of the Constitution of India.

The petitioners had filed the PIL taking cue from newspaper reports pertaining to the ban, and the AMU VC Lt Gen (retd) Zameeruddin Shah’s controversial comment while giving a reason for the ban. He had said: “There would be a rush of boys in the library if girls are allowed into it.”

Following reports in the media the VC had said the girls were banned from the library because of paucity of space. He also regretted his controversial remarks.

The division bench observed that it considered media reports on the ban as true and ordered issuance of notices to the VC and the registrar.