By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: Eminent historian and former Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, Professor Mushirul Hassan has been critically injured and currently admitted at a private hospital in New Delhi.
67 year old Professor Hassan met with a road accident on his way to Mewat on Saturday morning, around 11.30 AM, where he was going to attend as the Chief Guest of Annual Function of Aravali Public School. His car was hit by a dumper, often used to transport stones and boulders cut from the Aravalli Mountains.
File Photo of Prof Mushirul Hassan speaking at Jamia
According to his colleagues, Professor Hassan has suffered serious injuries including multiple fractures and injury to his head. He has been admitted at South Delhi’s Apollo Hospital, where he is undergoing multiple surgeries under a team of neurosurgeons. Jamia NSS has meanwhile appealed to those having O group blood to donate reach Apollo Hospital and donate a unit as Prof Hassan has might require several units.
Jamia fraternity and his colleagues in intelligentsia have expressed grief and are praying for speedy recovery. While giving the news of the accident, Professor Obaid Siddiqui of AJK MCRC wrote on Facebook, “Let us all pray for his speedy recovery and give strength to Zoya Hasan and his other family members in this very trying moment.” Professor Zoya Hasan, eminent Political Scientist and professor at JNU, is Professor Hassan’s wife.
Professor Hassan had taken voluntary retirement last year, after his differences with the administration when he alleged harassment and humiliation.
After his long association with Jamia, where he joined as a lecturer, he soon became one of the youngest Professor of History in the country and later served as the Head of the Department, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Pro-Vice Chancellor and subsequently as the Vice Chancellor.
However, due to his ‘liberal’ views and for strong political positions, he was often drawn into controversies whether it was supporting the right to free speech of Salman Rushdie, his opposition to the statutory minority status of the University or his strong stand in the aftermath of the 2008 Batla House Encounter, when he earned the respect within the campus for standing with the fraternity while was dubbed as anti-national by nationalistic jingoists. In 2013, he alleged humiliation by then Administration and had taken voluntary retirement.
Prof Hassan is the Author and Editor of over 15 books on freedom struggle, Muslims and other contemporary issues and regularly contributed articles to various newspapers and journals. He has also served as the Director General of India Archive and is currently Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India and the Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Government in 2010.
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