Delhi University rejects law faculty proposal to teach 'Manusmriti' in curriculum

NEW DELHI: Delhi University's vice-chancellor, Yogesh Singh, announced on Thursday that the university has rejected the proposal to teach 'Manusmriti' in law curriculum. The initial suggestion was made by the Faculty of Law to revise the jurisprudence paper's syllabus.

The proposal, aimed to introduce readings from 'Manusmriti' and was set for discussion on Friday, faced swift criticism. A section of teachers argued that the text is regressive towards women and marginalised communities.

"Delhi University received a proposal from the Faculty of Law, in which changes were made in Jurisprudence one of the courses. They gave two suggestive texts for Medhatithi's Concept of State and Law- Manusmriti with Manubhashi and the second one was Commentary of Manusmriti. So these two texts and the amendments they made were rejected by Delhi University, nothing like this will be taught at Delhi University", Delhi University VC Yogesh Singh said.

Text is regressive towards women and marginalised communities

The Left-backed Social Democratic Teachers Front (SDTF) has written to DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh stating that the manuscript propagates a "regressive" outlook towards the rights of women and the marginalised communities and that it is against a "progressive education system".

"In Manusmriti, in several sections, it opposes women's education and equal rights. Introduction of any section or part of Manusmriti is against the basic structure of our Constitution and principles of Indian Constitution," the letter read.