Delhi University has taken disciplinary action against a PhD student from its Faculty of Law following an incident where the student physically assaulted a professor. The university’s proctor, Manoj Kumar Singh, announced the immediate suspension of Shubham Singh, aged 31, after reviewing CCTV evidence which depicted Singh slapping Professor Anupam Jha multiple times at Umang Bhawan on August 17.
As a consequence of the assault, Delhi Police have registered a first information report (FIR) at Maurice Nagar police station. Professor Jha, who has been a part of the Faculty of Law for nearly 23 years, sustained an elbow injury and a bruised hand due to this attack, he revealed in a statement to the Hindustan Times.
In response to the incident, Delhi University has established a three-member committee led by Professor Rajeev Gupta from the chemistry department to investigate the matter further. This incident appears to be connected to Singh’s PhD interview in 2025, during which Professor Jha served as a panellist.
Following his suspension, Shubham Singh shared his perspective in an Instagram video. He recounted his long-standing association with the Faculty of Law since 2017, having pursued his LL.B., LL.M., and PhD there. Despite facing rejections for the LL.M. program in 2020 and 2021, as well as in the first round of his PhD application, Singh remained at DU without exploring opportunities elsewhere.
Singh mentioned a specific incident during an LL.M. research assignment where he chose to critique the book “India that is Bharat” by Senior Advocate J Sai Deepak. The faculty member evaluating his work dismissed the book as fictitious and advised against using it for his research. Singh stated that this experience significantly influenced his choice of PhD topic.
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His research focused on “Exploring the Continuation of Colonial Legacy of State Interaction with Religion vis a vis the Two Realms of Bharatiya Secularism.” Singh expressed his deep connection to the book’s title, which he considered truthful, and aimed to substantiate this in his study.
Singh alleged that during his interview, Jha repeatedly questioned why he chose “Bharatiya” over “Indian” secularism, suggesting that this choice was a tactic to secure admission through preferential treatment. Singh attributed his failure in the first phase of the selection process to this aspect of the interview.
Furthermore, Singh accused the university’s PhD and guest faculty selection process of corruption, asserting that influence or payments were involved. He claimed to have been advised to use “back channels” to negotiate with the faculty in exchange for admission.
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Singh also alleged that between the two interview rounds, Jha stated his expertise was in international law, not constitutional law, yet continued to pose the same question in the subsequent interview. Singh criticized the interview committee’s questioning as arbitrary and appealed to the Vice-Chancellor to investigate whether he or the system was at fault.
