Just five months after Dr. Payal Tadvi, a medical student at Nair Hospital in Mumbai was driven to suicide due to harassment by her seniors, another case of Fathima Latheef has come to light.

An undergraduate student of Philosophy at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the IIT Madras, 19-year-old Fathima Latheef allegedly committed suicide on November 9, 2019, in her hostel room. In her last note, she named three Professors: Hemachandran Karah, Milind Brahme and Sudarshan Padmanabhan.

IIT Madras has had a history of student suicides, with 5 students from different departments having committed suicide in recent years. 

 An ex-student, Ravi(name changed) from the Humanities and Social Sciences department at IIT Madras recalled his experience. He said, “During my time there, I saw that all the faculty, as well as the students, were upper caste. There was not a single faculty who belonged to the SC, ST OBC or minority communities.”

Mariam, a student from IIT Bombay said it was not right to call it a case of suicide as it is a clear murder on the lines or Dr. Payal Tadvi and Rohith Vemula. “In one of the letters, Fathima has written ‘My name and my identity has become a problem for me…’ So clearly this is a case of islamophobia.”

Fahad Ahmed, a student activist from Mumbai said, “Even daily interactions for Muslims have become a problem in this majoritarian atmosphere. At a time when brilliant students are supposed to be encouraged by the faculty, all we are getting is mental torture. When a woman from the Muslim community comes up despite all the odds, and when something like this happens, I feel this is not a suicide of a person but a suicide of the aspirations of a community. Muslim community today lacks two things in my opinion: ideals and aspiration. And the rhetoric surrounding this incident will be held as a precedent for women who would want to enter higher education in future.”

Students said that lack of space and dialogue is one of the major for Muslim students on campus. Mariam added, “Although there are some redressal mechanisms like counselling, they are very insensitive towards the cultural background. You will see that many universities will not have a single Muslim organization which can take up any issue because they are just not allowed to exist. There is no space for interaction and no space for dialogue.”

A statement released by Ambedkarite Students Collective, IIT Bombay, stated that the casteist and communal behaviour of faculty and their discriminatory attitude have led to many institutional murders. There needs to be constant public pressure to make the casteist and Brahmanical academia change its course.

They have also demanded the following course of action

• Suspend the three accused faculty name by Fathima with immediate effect pending internal and police enquiry. 
• The Tamilnadu government and police should take cognisance of the notes related to the events that led to Fathima Latheef taking her own life. 
• Action against Kottopuram Police Officials who were apathetic to her parent’s pleas. The TN Police should respect and hear the case from her parents. 
• IIT Madras should call for an internal enquiry about the failures of Department and institutional mechanism to prevent reporting of this case. 
• The Ministry of Minority Affairs should take immediate cognisance of the discrimination due to religion and demand all educational institutions to have a Minority Cell for reporting such incidences of discrimination in future. 
• Enact Rohith Act to punish caste, religious and gender-based discrimination in Indian varsities. 

Courtesy: Two Circle

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In yet another kind of institutionalised murder, Dr. Payal Tadvi, a 26 year old Post Graduate Student  at Mumbai’s famed BYL Nair Hospital in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Government run Topiwala National Medical College was driven to suicide after facing  discrimination and harassment at the hands of three of her senior colleagues, Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehar and Ankita Khandelwal.

According to AISHE’s (All India Survey of Higher Education)  2018  data there are a  total of 130 female students and 107 male students pursuing M.D (Doctor of Medicine) belonging to the  Scheduled Tribes (ST) category in Maharashtra, which is a total of 3.08% of total students in the state of Maharashtra –  low compared to the reservation mandate.

Overall, within, Maharashtra medical colleges there are no mechanism available to address such issues like caste-based harassment. Educational bodies like the UGC (University  Grants Commision) do have guidelines for creation and maintenance SC/ST Cells and Equal Opportunity cells in colleges. But medical colleges come under the MCI(Medical Council Of India) which does not have any guidelines for cases related to caste based discrimination.

Jalgaon based activist Mr. Moulana Mujaheed Tadvi, President of Adivasi Yuva Kranti Dal and Adivasi Bhil Tadvi Bahuddheshiye Sanstha, said, “ It is the first time that an issue related to a tribal person is been taken seriously and has gained momentum, otherwise many such atrocities against tribals take place everyday but they go unnoticed. We are planning a zilla and tehsil level protest regarding this case. We are also planning a protest March in Mumbai very soon”.

Dr.Payal Tadvi, hailed from Jalgaon district in the North of Maharashtra. Tadvi, belonged to the Bhil Tadvi Community, part of the population of which is Muslim. Dr. Tadvi  was a practising Muslim and had kept her Roza  for  month of Ramadan. The Bhil Muslim Tribal Community and are classified under Scheduled Tribes in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.According to the 2010 census the Tadvi Bhil population in Maharashtra is 1,818,792.

Regarding the Bhil Tadvi community he further added “The Adivasis like Tadvis have been facing discrimination and atrocities since long time, I have personally toured areas of Bhil, Akola, Amravati, Buldana and the conditions of communities like Bhil and Gonds is pathetic. There is no of employment, many of the tribals have forced out of the forests and hence have lost their livelihood, many of them engage in small time labour work in fields. The education levels are also dismail, the condition especially of the women is very bad”.

Dr. Rewat Kaninde, Ex-President Dr.Ambedkar Medicos Association, currently working in JJ Hospital, Mumbai said that  “ Even during my UG days I too have witnessed verbal discrimination in terms of taunts, even if the students from the reserved category are at the top the class, they are still subjected to taunts from the students and teachers”.

He further added that a mechanism should be put in place to help the students. “We demand that all the medical colleges should compulsory counsel students since many of them come from rural areas, not only the SC/ST, and OBC students but even general students should be counselled. Already in a country like India the doctor patient ratio is one of the lowest in the world. She would have treated lakhs of patients and now she is no more, this is a very serious thing. Every single doctor is important in a country like India and doctor being driven to suicide like this is not acceptable. This a very serious issue. We demand that cells like SC/ST Cells and Equal Opportunity Cells to be set up in Medical Colleges with immediate effect”.

Speaking to TCN a third year female MBBS student from tribal community on condition of anonymity fearing  being targeted  said, “ Many of the tribal students come from areas like Gadchiroli and Nandurbar regions of Maharashtra, for them to cope with the environment of higher education in Mumbai becomes very difficult.  Many of the students come from very backward areas and are from working class  backgrounds. I personally faced lot of problems in my first year, it was very difficult to talk and adapt to the environment. Things are easier for students who come from well-off families. Students from the reserved categories are left to fend for themselves as there is  no emotional support available, I feel giving students the emotional support they require is very important”.

A call for protest was given by the family of Dr.Tadvi. A protest march was held on 28th May in front of BYL Nair Hospital in Mumbai. The three accused under section 306 (abetment for suicide) of the Indian penal code (IPC), sections of the SC/ST Atrocities Act, Anti-Ragging Act and Information Technology Act, 2000. Dr. Tadvi’s body was taken to JJ Hospital for post mortem and was later taken to her hometown of Jalgoan District in Maharashtra. According the recent developments, Dr. Tadvi’s husband has alleged foul play in the suicide case.

Courtesy: Two Circle

The post With no institutional mechanisms, discrimination and harassment are everyday ordeals for tribal students appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In what seems like another step in the direction of an already regressive and discriminatory food policies in campuses of Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Madras has introduced separate entry and exit points, separate wash basins and separate utensils for vegetarian and non-vegetarian students on the campus .

The mess in question is ‘R R North Indian Mess’ which introduced this segregation three days ago. As this is the vacation period, only three messes are currently operational at the campus.  There was no official communication sent out to the students regarding the segregation. To the surprise of students, posters were put up inside the mess, indicating entry and exit points and separate wash basins for non-vegetarian students etc. The segregation has also introduced separate seating space, and separate plates for non-vegetarian students. Also, IIT Madras recently introduced a ‘vegetarian only’  mess to cater to vegetarian students on the campus.

One such student Mohan*, who was not aware of segregation said, “Three days back I sat towards the vegetarian side, I had an egg in my plate, the management came and forced me to sit on the other side, I was told that other students do not like if non vegetarian students sit here, so they asked me to sit on the other side.” Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, a Facebook page by IIT Madras students, termed this move as  ‘full fledged’ untouchability.

The issue of food choices and targeting of non-vegetarian food has been going on for the last few years. In 2014, the MHRD through its under secretary forwarded a letter to 14 IITs asking them not to provide “tasmic” food and the action taken in this regard was also sort from the Directors of IITs. Earlier this year, IIT Bombay asked the canteen in the civil engineering department to stop serving non-vegetarian food including eggs. Again, the same campus in one of the hostels asked student who have non-vegetarian food to use separate plates.

Currently, students eating non vegetarian food have been forced to enter from other side of the mess, and take separate plate for food. Students intend to take up this issue and  file a complaint against this segregation with the administration

*Name changed to protect the student

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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