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, May 3, 2008

Enquiry committee absolves University of caste discrimination

The committee set up by the University of Hyderabad to enquire about the death of Senthil, says in its report 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 the them to believe that the department was ‘casteist.’
The report, in effect, refuses to admit the discriminatory practices against Dalits in the campus, by saying that the "discrepancies" that have crept into the evaluations have "led the Dalit students to believe that the department is casteist."

The link to a report in The Times of India, Hyderabad, 03/05/08
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JSC8yMDA4LzA1LzAzI0FyMDA1MDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom

or

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JSC8yMDA4LzA1LzAzI0FyMDA1MDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom
at

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