Jatin Jangra, a visually impaired student of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) under Delhi University (DU), is taking on the university for its show-cause notice which charged that he had used “unfair means” during his fourth semester examination in economics even when he scored zero marks in that subject.

The third-year B. Com Honours had been issued the notice by the deputy registrar on July 27, 2017. Under DU’s Ordinance X-A provisions, the use of unfair means/disorderly conduct during an examination is an offence. It also stated that the above guideline had been mentioned in the examination room beforehand.

Jangra, who suffers from 100 per cent visual impairment, said when he appeared for his Indian Economy-II (Generic elective in Economics Department), he was given the question paper of Indian Economy (Performance and Policies), which is entirely another paper, by the invigilator in May this year. “The invigilator behaved recklessly despite knowing the fact that the examination room was exclusively for candidates with disabilities,” said Jangra. “As the opening title of the paper distributed to me read “Indian Economy”, there was no scope for further doubt. Also, it is the duty of the invigilator to ensure the distribution of correct question paper to the candidates,” he said.

When the results were declared on July 20, he was baffled to see that he received zero marks in Economics. “I was very much shocked to see this and I approached varsity authorities to get clarity. But they all evaded my query and I wasn’t given a satisfactory answer,” said Jatin.

Jangra replied to the show-cause notice on August 2. He has also written to Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) S K Prasad, where he claimed, “the university’s allegation is baseless in the absence of any substantiating fact and devoid of any merit and they are attempting to spoil my career by giving zero marks in the subject, for no fault of mine”.

DU has come under successive attack even earlier from students with disabilities for lack of facilities despite receiving a large amount of money to make its premises accessible to persons with disabilities.

Newslaundry tried to reach out to Simrit Kaur, the principal of SRCC. “I am not directly involved in the case, children often come to me for inquiries and suggestions, I have directed him in his case and asked him to reach out to the concerned authority,” said the principal’s personal assistant. Newslaundry also reached out to the administration officer Jatin Lamba. Despite knowing about Jangra’s case, Lamba refused comment.