Far from having learnt any lesson from the suicide of Rohith
Vemula, the University of Hyderabad is institutionalising the use of
excommunication as an administrative strategy
University of Hyderabad students demanding justice for dalit
scholar Rohith Vemula, holding a protest demonstration against the University
VC in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Credit: PTI
University of Hyderabad students demanding justice for dalit
scholar Rohith Vemula, holding a protest demonstration against the University
VC in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Credit: PTI
The events unfolding at the University of Hyderabad are
extremely painful, to put it mildly. The sudden and silent entry of the vice
chancellor, Podile Appa Rao, into the campus triggered a massive protest among
the largest section of students. It also led to a clash between the Akhil
Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students and university administration on
the one hand and the protesting students on the other. This was quite unexpected
because the university had settled into an uneasy calm after the crisis
triggered by the suicide of Rohith Vemula and the academic session was near
closing for the year.
The first we saw of this was television news reports of
brutal handling of students and the few teachers with them by lathi wielding
police. After this there was just a repetition of this footage, and news that
close to 30 students and three faculty members had been taken into custody. Drs
Tathagatha Sengupta and K.Y. Ratnam were among those arrested. There were
several eyewitness accounts of police beating up Dr. Ratnam even while he was
trying to intervene and salvage a bad situation.
Information withheld
When the arrests were made I had assumed (rather naively, I
must say) that all of them would be released after a few hours in custody. When
they had been in for a night with no release in sight, I made contact with
Karthik Bittu, a teacher there who was keeping close track of the arrested
students and faculty. I sent a lawyer to Miyapur Police Station on March 23 to
find out what was happening. From his and other accounts, the version I got was
that there was no information on what the police’s next move was going to be
and each one who asked got a different story of what was to happen. It was
close to 5 pm, there were many lawyers and students waiting at the police
station. When nothing seemed to move, I called Bittu again around 5 pm, and
heard that they were planning to meet the chief justice. In the meanwhile,
around 7 pm, my lawyer friend messaged me that the reason why the detainees
were not being produced was that the remand case diaries were not ready. It was
over 24 hours since the arrests had been made. So I messaged Bittu immediately
conveying this information and suggesting that the team meeting the CJ bring
this to his notice and demand immediate release. I do not know if they met him.
I had also requested a friend with access to ministers to
intervene with the home minister and chief minister. He did meet the home
minister, who expressed his inability to intervene; the CM was not contactable.
Since I live at the other end of the city, I had requested a colleague to drop
by at the campus and check on what we could do. We had received several appeals
for food and water. Bottles would not serve any purpose if there was a cutting
off of water supply. So we explored the possibility of arranging water tankers
for students, but the heavy police presence and barricades led us to abandon
that thought immediately. No vehicles were allowed to stop anywhere near the
gate and no outsiders were permitted to enter.
But I understand that these arrangements were made and friends had been
supplying food packets to the campus till late at night. And of course the
students had been doing some mass cooking as well.
This morning, i.e., March 24, feeling very restless about
having people in custody, I went to Miyapur police station. I received
information in the morning that they were in Miyapur police station. When I
arrived at Miyapur around 9.30 am, there were a couple of sentry and constables
and the place was quiet. I called Bittu who informed me that it is always quiet
but if I peep around at the back of the police station, they will be there –
Bittu found them there in similar circumstances the previous night. So I got
into a conversation, introduced myself, was offered a chair, and told that
there was no one in custody in that police station. The Gachibowli PS (under
whose jurisdiction the university comes) did not have adequate detention
facilities and so kept the group in custody in Miyapur for “purposes of lock up
and food.” They offered to take me around the police station if I wished. I
declined and went to Miyapur court, where the bail applications were to be
filed. After a long wait there, when there was no sign of anyone appearing on
behalf of the arrested students and faculty,
I left.
On my way back, I learnt that the group had been produced
before the magistrate late at night on March 23 and were sent to judicial
remand in Cherlapally jail. I further learnt that around 50 more students were
going to be arrested and the FIRs were ready – but I do not know this for a
fact. This evening, i.e. Thursday, we learnt that the bail hearing has been
postponed to Monday, so the group will stay in judicial custody till Monday.
One full week in custody, for what reason?
What is most disconcerting about this entire sequence of
events is the total blocking of information on arrests by the university
administration and its callous disregard for the fact that its own students and
faculty had been placed under arrest. And that those that remained were being
put through enormous hardship with no electricity, no water, no food. I called
a friend who is on the faculty and asked why the entire faculty had not risen
in one voice against the arrests. We can have disagreements and political
differences, but there can be no equivocation regarding persons who have been
beaten up by the police and placed under illegal detention; and misinformation
about the whereabouts of those detained. This is in clear violation of basic
principles of criminal law, but I was shocked at the response I received: “No,
there is a lot of misinformation by the media; everything is working well on
campus.” What about the arrests and police violence? “There was an ‘attempt to
murder’ the vice chancellor. Senior
faculty witnessed it.” Really? I asked. Attempt to murder? That is nowhere in
the allegations or the charges as far as I know. What actions amount to attempt
to murder? And whatever it was, were 30 people directly responsible? How did
you sift the ABVP students out of those arrested, since all accounts say that
the scuffle involved both groups? Did 200 need to be brutally beaten up? Were
any ABVP students hurt by police lathis? Do you need to choke off supplies for
the rest? No answers. So I made my position clear. Even if ABVP students had
been beaten by the police in this manner and arrested I would oppose it
strongly and insist that you oppose it too.
Let us set everything else aside for a moment. How did the
vice chancellor, his administration and his colleagues (a substantial number
with him) even permit the police to exercise disproportionate force against
unarmed students? And how are we to understand their complacency in the face of
having their own students and faculty in custody?
From a situation where five students – Rohith was one of
them – were subjected to an official boycott and moved into a symbolic
velivada, or ghetto, in protest, we are now witnessing excommunication – the
velivada – as administrative strategy for institutional governance. What we see
unfolding before us is the Salwa Judum as a method of governance. Our history
of caste violence has certainly taught lessons in the most unexpected ways. But
the resistance by students is immense. And considering they have only their
courage in their hands and the will to resist, it will be a long and hard
battle against a vengeful, biased and cruel administration that enjoys the
guarantee of impunity.
Kalpana Kannabiran is a member of the Executive Council of
the International Sociological Association; Life member of the Indian
Sociological Society and a non-practising member of the “legal fraternity.”
News Source : thewire.in
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