Following the allegedly unfair expulsion of the eight Dalit students from Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), students led by the Joint Action Committee submitted an ultimatum to the university VC, demanding judicial or CBI inquiry against Professor Kamal Jaiswal, on Friday, October 7. The Dalit students were expelled from the university on September 8 for allegedly assaulting Professor Jaiswal after a tiff between him and BBAU registrar Dr Sunita Chandra. As Sabranindia had reported before, these students have been prohibited from entering the university campus and have been evicted from the hostels as well.
The ultimatum submitted to the Vice Chancellor R C Sobti demands cancellation of the expulsion of the Dalit students and appropriate action against Prof Jaiswal by October 16, 2016. If the university administration fails in fulfilling demands of the students, the ultimatum says that the students will go on a peaceful and indefinite sit-in in front of the administration block, in addition to pursuing cancellation of the admissions of all the Scheduled Caste (ST) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) students in the university.
The application, which has listed a number of allegations against Prof Jaiswal, says that that the students belonging to the SC and SC categories feel “frightened, suppressed and terrorised” because of him and that the students are fed up of his discriminatory behaviour. It alleges that Prof Jaiswal uses castist slurs in public places and threatens students of ruining their future.
Prof Jaiswal, who has had serious and proven allegations of sexual harassment against him, was suspended from the university in 2009 for a period of four years. The inquiry committee headed by the former high court judge Shailendra Saxena had found Jaiswal guilty of sexually harassing a research scholar working under him. Yet, the verdict was challenged just after the current VC assumed its charge in 2013. Jaiswal was given a clean chit by an internal committee and has been serving in different positions in the university since.
The written ultimatum by the Joint Action Committee also talk about allegation of bribery and financial irregularities against him. It also question university administration’s decision to promote him with purportedly false high Academic Performance Index (API) rankings, where in fact, he had been out of service for four years. A demand for judicial or CBI inquiry had been put forth in the document to investigate several such allegations against him and the university administration.
Citing history of his misconduct with Dalit students, the Joint Action Committee has demanded justice for the expelled Dalit students, who have been wrongly accused of assaulting him, allegedly.
Shreyat Bouddh, one of the expelled students told Sabrangindia, “We have submitted the letter to the VC. We’ll see what action they take now. So far, we haven’t received any response.”
A national students' parliament was held in the university to debate the expulsion of the Dalit Students. Rohith Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula was also present on the occasion as the chief guest.