04 August,2011 08:09 AM IST | | Vatsala Shrangi
A place of study is where all boundaries of caste, class, religion and colour melt down. Or so we think. Delhi University, one of the most prestigious seats of learning in the Capital, has become the setting for a caste-related row. And the protagonists are not students, still learning the ways of life, but the ones who teach them that. A teacher of Ramjas College has alleged his senior has been abusing him publicly for belonging to the reserved category.
Pic/Mid Day
Assistant professor in department of Chemistry, Hemant Kumar Rajor, has alleged that associate professor Rama Kant Goyal Chemistry has been making "casteist" comments regarding him since last year. Though Rajor did not confront Goyal personally, he reported the matter to the college authorities in writing.
Courting controversies: A few days ago, students had held protests
against the college's admission policy. file pic
"He humiliated me during a meeting in front of a room full of people, including junior teachers and called me neech jaat (low caste). He hurled unsolicited comments on me, accusing me of incompetence because I belonged to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category," claimed Rajor.
When the end to this harassment did not seem to be anywhere in sight, Rajor wrote a complaint to the principal, requesting him to look into the matter. When he did not receive any response from the college authorities, he took the matter to the National Commission for Scheduled Caste, New Delhi, on June 10, a copy of which is with MiD DAY.
The commission then issued a letter to the college on July 15, asking authorities to submit a detailed account of facts regarding the allegations, within 15 days. (Copy of the letter is with MiD DAY. The commission also forwarded the matter to the Commissioner of Police and the university vice-chancellor. On Wednesday, police personnel visited the college to record the statements of the complainant, the accused and college principal.
The other side
Denying all allegations, Professor Goyal said, "I did not say anything to anyone. If there has been a complaint, then it should have names of people who were present while the incidents have been reported to have taken place. I don't understand why they always harass people of the General Category. If they want to hang the people of the General Category, I can't help it. Prof. Hemant is well aware of his activities in the college, including unnecessary interference with the administration affairs."
Principal's stance
Principal Rajendra Prasad said, "The matter is not new, it had been brought to my notice a long time ago. We had put in our best efforts to resolve the issue. As per my knowledge, the matter was resolved mutually and amicably. Still, if anyone has any grievance, let the law take its own course."
Safdarjung in focus
One of the city's premier hospitals is under the scanner for alleged caste bias. MiD DAY had first reported the incident on February 21. According to a report collated by a forum of leading doctors, a large number of students at Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College (VMMC), affiliated to the prestigious Safdarjung Hospital, have been facing problems of casteism. According to students, the Department of Physiology has been failing students on a yearly basis allegedly because they are from the reserved category. A large number of them are yet to pass the examinations. Highly-placed sources at the hospital say, institutionalised casteism exists at the level of the department of physiology and at the college. Statistics provided suggest that reserved category students who performed well at the time of entry into the college do well in other subjects but fare poorly in Physiology. 0It is true that the results of the Physiology examinations were disproportionately harsh on a select category of students,0 said a senior faculty member from the Physiology department on the condition of anonymity.
