Rabeeha Abdurehim, a gold medallist in M.A. Mass Communication from the Pondicherry University, was denied permission to attend the convocation ceremony with President Ram Nath Kovind as Chief Guest over ‘the doubt and fear of protest against CAA’.
To register her protest against this discriminatory move and also for showing solidarity with protests against Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, Rabeeha refused to accept the gold medal given by varsity.
‘ This is the convocation that the President attended. And since I was a ‘suspect’ because they expected me to do something ( I don’t know what), I was actually kicked out of my own convocation. The President was there.’
After the President Kovind left, the department staff distributed the rest of the certificates.
At that time, when Rabeeha’s name was called, she came to the stage but refused to take the gold medal. She accepted only the certificate.
‘This is in solidarity with every protests against CAA, NRC and NPR,’ Rabeeha said.
Also three students, Karthika B Kurupp, a gold medallist in M.Sc Electronic Media, PhD student A.S.Arun Kumar from the anthropology department and PhD student Mehalla have rejected their medals and not attended the convocation.
Earlier, Pondicherry University Students Union had exhorted students to boycott the convocation.
