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.’

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Future plan of action

The team from Anveshi Research Centre, Hyderabad, after visiting the campus of University of Hyderabad recently, has suggested a number of initiatives, including:

1. forming a Senthilkumar Solidarity Committee comprising of major academics in the city and dalit and other student organisations.

2. preparing a detailed note on what actually happened (our reading of the situation) and what the issues are. Along with signatures, this, as a letter should be sent to: Arjun Singh (HRD Minister), Thorat, Karunanidhi, YSR. The request would be to the HRD Minister and UGC to constitute an enquiry committee; partiularly since the internal report actually makes the School of Physics culpable.
Also this could be sent, as a write up, to the EPW. The immediate demands should be compensation for senthil's family, action on the dean of the school, and at a different levels mechanisms to make the university and the schools more accountable and democratic.

3. Circulating the report and put it on as many websites as possible.

4. For this note, it may be necessary to meet some faculty, students and non-teaching staff of HCU. We need to plan this depending on the availability of people. In any case, we will have a rough structure of the letter ready in two-three days.
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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi,


While seeking compensation from the University is the right way to go, I am wondering if an independent move to create a fund from the community has been suggested? If not, I would like to get some ideas on this. Can we reach out to the family in immediate terms as a community? I am completely aware that this would stretch the time demands on volunteers involved in these efforts. But if we can figure out some efficient means....... tentatively, an online payment mode maybe? Where the donors can directly deposit into the account created for Senthil's family?

Regards
anu

May 1, 2008 at 10:13 AM

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