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.’

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Guilty should be punished: Kancha Iliah

University of Hyderabad should take action against those who are responsible for the death of Senthil Kumar, said scholar and activist Kancha Iliah. At a press meet in Hyderabad organized by Senthil Kumar Solidarity Committee, he said the University should give a much fairer amount as compensation for the grieved family, compared to Rs 5 lakh it has now agreed to provide.

“The Vice Chancellor should show the basic integrity of admitting that caste discrimination exists in the University, acknowledging the findings of the Pavrala Committee. The Committee report clearly points out the lack of transparency in the regulations of School of Physics. It is unfortunate that he made a public statement that Senthil's suicide had nothing to do with caste discrimination and that the university will not take any action against anybody for this suicide”, Iliah said.

“While institutions like EFLU has already announced that 27 per cent reservation for OBCs would be implemented right away, the VC of University of Hyderabad has said recently that it would implement only 5 per cent reservation for OBCs this year. The University is functioning as a modern agrahara,” he added.

Noted scholar Susie Tharu said by denying the findings of the Committee, the Vice Chancellor has cheated the teaching fraternity as a whole.

Activist Gogu Shyamala, scholar K Satyanarayana, Adv K Balagopal, scientist Veena Shatrugna, Praveen (research scholar, UoH) also spoke at the meet.
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