Law students observing Bakrid can take exam after July 4: DU tells HC

New Delhi: Delhi HC Tuesday allowed students of Faculty of Law, including minority and non-minority students, to skip the May 28 exams if they wished to observe Eid al-Adha (Bakrid) on the day. Such students can inform the dean via email, HC added.

In response, Delhi University (DU) said it will hold the exam after July 4. The court asked it to give students at least one week’s prior notice.

DU, while declaring a holiday on May 28, had earlier stated that exams would continue as planned. The move had triggered objections from students, particularly Muslims, who said it would prevent them from fully observing the festival. A second-year law student filed a plea in HC, saying students had raised concerns with the dean and later approached the registrar, and were “assured something will be done”.

“Our initial demand was to prepone the exam to May 27, but DU went ahead with the notification. Now there is no time left for preponement, so we sought postponement,” he said, adding the decision was “contradictory” and hindered students from celebrating the festival freely, in violation of their rights under Article 21.