I’m a victim of conspiracy: Samia Rahman

Dhaka University teacher Samia Rahman, who has been demoted to assistant professor on charge of plagiarism, today claimed that she is innocent and is a victim of "colleagues' conspiracy".

"I didn't write and submit the research paper for which I was punished," she said while talking to media at Dhaka Reporters Unity today.

She sought intervention of Dhaka University Chancellor and President Abdul Hamid in this regard and said she would go to court for legal recourse.

"I did not get justice," she said.

She claimed that the letter -- said to come from the University of Chicago Press Journal -- which was the main clue in the investigation done by Dhaka University, was "fake".

"Alex Martin, the complainant was not involved with the University of Chicago Press Journal," she claimed.

As proof, she showed screenshot of some messenger chat with Craig Walker, editor of the journal.

Syed Mahfuzul Haque Marjan, who was the co-author of the research paper and has also been punished, confessed to the investigation committee that it was only him who was responsible for the paper, said Samia Rahman.

"I made a request to the then Dean of the Social Sciences faculty, Professor Farid Uddin Ahmed, to withdraw the article on February 5, 2017, stating that the article was not mine. The Dean was supposed to raise it in the syndicate meeting but he delayed the matter for seven months. After the tenure of Vice-Chancellor Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique ended in 2017, he raised the matter with the syndicate, which was intentional," Samia Rahman claimed.

"Investigation committee and the syndicate's decisions were one-sided, mala fide and biased," she claimed.

When asked, Prof Farid Uddin, now vice-chancellor of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, said, "It all happened a few years back; I don't remember clearly."

"Other than that, the investigation committee did not call me. University authority proceeded on its own. There had been an inquiry committee, and a syndicate; I have always done my job properly. So, I have no comment on this," he said.

Marjan, a lecturer of Criminology Department of DU, is currently on a study leave abroad. The Daily Star could not reach him.

Both of the teachers were demoted on January 28.