Awarded for taking Jamia University to greater heights, says Jamia VC Najma Akhtar.

During the last year, when JMI was accredited with A++ by NACC, vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar said the Padma Shri award was recognition of her work to take the university to greater heights. The same year in which protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act took place in December, Professor Akhtar was appointed Vice-Chancellor.

A police barge stormed Jamia Millia Islamia's campus on December 15, 2019, and allegedly attacked students studying in the library, causing the campus to become the epicenter of anti-CAA protests. A few meters away from the university, the police said they had entered the campus to look for outsiders involved in violence during the protests.

"It was an unhappy situation across the country at that time. It wasn't my fault, and I did what was expected of me. Few others would have done what I did. I needed to take care of my students," she said after the award was announced.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/education/awarded-for-taking-varsity-greater-heights-says-jamia-vc-najma-akhtar-after-getting-padma-shri