One of the accused in the Muzaffarnagar communal riot cases BJP Member of Parliament from Bijnore Kunwar Bharatendra has become a member of the the Aligarh Muslim University Court, the top decision making body of the University.
Mr. Bharatendra is one of the four BJP MPs nominated by the Centre to the AMU Court. He was arrested in October 2013 on charges of inciting communal violence during communal riots in Muzaffarnagar. As the then BJP MLA from Bijnore, he was the third BJP lawmaker---after Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana---- from Uttar Pradesh to have been arrested in connection of the communal riots.
Another member of the AMU Court would be the BJP MP from Aligarh Satish Gautam who grabbed headlines when in November 2013 he had threatened to celebrate the birth anniversary of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh inside the university campus without its permission.
Other BJP MPs nominated to the university body include Kalyan Singh's son and BJP MP from Etah Rajveer Singh and BJP MP from Bulandshahr Bhola Singh.
According to Rahat Abrar the spokesperson of the AMU the nomination had nothing to do with the university as it was done by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry.
"The nomination was done by the Union HRD ministry for three years. The ministry communicated to us about nomination of the six members of Parliament as AMU court members as per the wishes of the Speaker of Lok Sabha," Mr. Abrar told The Hindu.
The AMU Court is the supreme governing body of the university which selects it's Chancellor and approves the selection of its Vice Chancellor, besides having the power to govern the university and make changes in its policies.
