New Delhi: Academics from across India and abroad have come together to unequivocally condemn the ‘brazen caste-based harassment’ of an assistant professor at Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University, demanding strict legal action against the accused.
Last month, Saraswati Kerketta – who belongs to the Scheduled Tribe community – alleged that a section of students, belonging to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) students’ union, hurled insults at her by mentioning her background, Hindustan Times reported.
The assistant professor further claimed that she was made to stand for an hour in a classroom despite the fact that she suffers from orthopaedic problems. Another professor, along with two other, later made similar accusations of caste-based harassment.
The Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, whose students are at the centre of the blame, meanwhile, has denied all allegations.
The incidents triggered widespread protests on the Kolkata campus and resulted in four departmental heads and three deans tendering their resignation. Following the mass resignations, the state education minister, Partha Chatterjee, last week visited the campus and met with faculty members and vice chancellor Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury – who has ordered an inquiry into the alleged incidents.
“The inquiry committee has to submit its report fast and it should be made public. I told the students to apologise to the teachers who felt insulted,” Chatterjee was quoted as saying.
Also read: How Protests Over Kolkata Students Taunting a Teacher with Casteist Slurs Snowballed
Following the meeting, the professors who had resigned withdrew their resignations and resolved to find an amicable solution to the matter.
According to the Hindustan Times, Joyeeta Roy, another professor who has made similar allegations, said that despite being a member of TMC’s teachers’ union, she was not spared. “Casteist slurs have become a regular feature on campus,” she reported said.
As per the statement issued by over 300 academics, the caste-based harassment faced by Kerketta is “by no means an isolated incident, but in fact the part of a long tradition that continues unabated.”
The inquiry committee, the signatories say, is a welcome step, but have further demanded: “strict legal action as per the law of the land against the culprits, and hope the university authorities will ensure the same.”
Apart from taking action in these particular incidents, the signatories have urged the need for sensitising institutions “on caste identity and social justice in India to build democratic spaces that offer equal opportunities to students and faculty from impoverished backgrounds and marginalized identities.”
§
The complete statement:
Statement of Academics on RBU Incident by The Wire on Scribd