A post-graduate student of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has been suspended and banned from the campus on charges of rumour mongering and defaming the University.

The suspension notice served to Adil Hossain, a Mass Communication student, by the AMU Proctor yesterday states that he had "misused the internet for passing critical remarks against the University administration onto websites which mostly deal with news pertaining to AMU and its alumni."

Hossain told PTI that he criticised the University for suspending late Dr S R Siras, a senior professor, who allegedly committed suicide following harassment by the University authorities over his homosexual orientation.

Hossain said he also spoke out on his blog against the Local Intelligence Unit, AMU's official spy agency, and the installation of spy cameras in different parts of the campus.

"I think I may be the first student in India punished for using the internet for expressing dissent and exercising my democratic right and speak out against injustice," he said.

"At a time when youth are being urged to play a constructive role in the task of nation building, the students of AMU are bring denied even the basic right to question in a peaceful manner the functioning of the university," he said.