Institutionalising the memory of Senthil's death

It is most unfortunate that Univ of Hyd has only been keen on washing its hands of the responsibility of the death of Senthil. Soon after his death, University withheld the post mortem report, which said it was a suicide. The VC ignored Ambedkar Students’ Association’s demand that an immediate relief of Rs 7 lakh be given to the grieved family. He also rejected the SC/ST joint action committee’s demand for an enquiry by a sitting judge. And finally when the report of the committee set up by the University indicated that the prevailing academic conditions at the School of Physics would have led to the death of Senthil, the VC came up with a press statement that Senthil’s death has nothing to do with caste discrimination, and that no action would be taken against anyone in this matter. Though the committee actually absolves the School of Physics of caste discrimination, its report clearly says that many ‘discrepancies and ambiguities’ had crept into the assessment of students in the Department of Physics since 2006, and that Dalit students, in particular, were victims of these discrepancies which in turn led them to believe that the department was ‘casteist.’

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Times of India Report on Feb 26, 2008

HCU scholar consumed poison, say police

TIMES NEWS NETWORK, Hyderabad:

A day after Ph.D scholar Senthil Kumar was found dead on the University of Hyderabad (HCU) campus, police on Monday claimed the student committed suicide. “After the postmortem at Gandhi Hospital, doctors declared Senthil Kumar committed suicide by consuming poison,” police sources told ‘TOI’. Though there was no preliminary postmortem report, the sources said the initial observations by the doctors who performed the postmortem was that it was a case of suicide.

“Doctors said he consumed poison,” said a police officer. In a related development, HCU students on Monday morning staged a dharna in front of the vice-chancellor’s office protesting the scholar’s death. The university authorities promised the protesting students that a probe would be ordered if the postmortem report confirms the death as suicide. “University authorities promised that an inquiry committee will be formed if the postmortem report says it is suicide,” S Harnath, a Ph.D scholar and a student union representative, told ‘TOI’. “So, far we have not received any official report about the reasons for the death. If the postmortem report confirms it as a suicide, there will be an inquiry,” HCU registrar R Y Narasimhulu said.

Earlier on Monday, HCU students boycotted classes demanding an internal inquiry into the death. All the major student unions organised a rally on the campus and staged a dharna in front of the administrative block. HCU vice-chancellor Seyed E Hasnain and registrar R Y Narasimhulu met the students who gave a list of their demands. The demands included—all Ph.D students be given scholarship irrespective of they clearing the course work; all Ph.d students be assigned a guide immediately after they get admission and Senthil’s family be given Rs 10 lakh as compensation. The authorities said they were seriously considering the issue. “Scholarship issue can be decided only by academic council of the university and when it comes to compensation there is no such provision in the university guidelines,” the registrar said.

However, he said the student’s family would get the insurance amount from the insurance agency under the university health insurance scheme which is mandatory for every student. Senthil Kumar’s family members took his body to their home town, Salem, on Monday evening.

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