The agitating students are planning to approach the University Grants Commission even as the institution extended the holidays.
EFLU students plan to approach UGC over sexual assault, FIR as varsity extends holidays after protest. (Supplied)
The faculty members of Hyderabad-based English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), on Monday, 23 October, came out in support of students agitating over an alleged instance of sexual assault on the campus, 11 of whom have been named in an FIR by the police.
In a joint statement, the faculty members expressed pain over the insensitivity of some of the university authorities. They condemned the actions of Proctor T Samson.
“The statement by professors speaks volumes. The environment in the university is such that whoever questions the vice-chancellor’s actions is either thrown out or transferred to Shillong or Lucknow. Some others have even lost their jobs. There is no freedom of speech in the university,” a professor told South First, requesting anonymity.
E Suresh Kumar is the vice-chancellor of the university, which has regional campuses in Shillong and Lucknow,
“We are also pained at the insensitivity of some of the authorities concerned at the time of the assault and during subsequent events. Our collective focus as a community, including the university administration, at this sensitive moment, should be on assuring the safety and well-being of the survivor, restoring confidence among our traumatised students, and on ensuring that justice is served,” they said in the statement.
The faculty member added that the professors named in the FIR, along with two other colleagues, had gone to the scene to speak with the survivor after being asked by Proctor Samson.
“Generally, the students feel more comfortable around the professors they know. So that’s what the proctor informed those professors. None of them had any role in the protests. ”
The proctor in his complaint said that students had forced him to call BS Sherin, an associate professor from the Department of Comparative Literature and India Studies, and Ipshita Chanda, a professor from the same department, and urged him to join the protest, which to him, seemed “highly dubious”.
“Professor Sherin is traumatised by the incident. The FIR copy is being circulated which has her personal phone number. She has been receiving multiple calls since then. Without their knowledge, the proctor mentioned the two professors’ numbers in the complaint,” the faculty member said.
The faculty members also accused the police of insulting the teachers who had accompanied the student — the survivor of sexual assault. The female student was allegedly assaulted by two men on the night of 18 October.
The professors said the students’ distress and agitation required a sensitive and careful response, and not “a punitive and vindictive approach”, referring to police complaints against the students.
Several posters read ‘no excuse to abuse’ at the EFLU. (Supplied)
They alleged that their colleagues who accompanied the survivor to the OU (Osmania University) police station to complain of sexual assault were subjected to insults and humiliation by a Deputy Commissioner of Police.
“Their names and phone numbers have been stated in the FIR without their knowledge or consent,” they alleged in the joint statement
Noting that Proctor Samson “officially summoned” the two professors — who were named in the police FIR — in the wee hours of 19 October to assist him in addressing the situation, the faculty said, “Two of our colleagues who responded to his request are now being accused of instigating the students against him, based on fabricated and fanciful statements.”
Accusing the proctor of leaking the phone numbers of the faculty members, they said: “We see this police complaint as a breach of trust among colleagues who were involved in the matter only upon the proctor’s request.”
They also accused the proctor of damaging the image of the university by diverting “attention from the assault by adding a communal colour to the situation and victimising students and colleagues.
The faculty urged the university to ensure that the police took the sexual assault case seriously instead of “prejudicing the case and attempting to create a communally charged situation where none exists.”
Meanwhile, alleging that the EFLU administration was trying to suppress their voices against the alleged sexual assault, agitating students said they were considering approaching the University Grants Commission (UGC) with a complaint.
Students protest on the EFLU campus on Thursday, 19 October 2023, following the probe into the sexual assault incident. (Supplied)
They also accused the administration of targeting specific students. They were referring to the 11 students booked in an FIR. The students demanded the withdrawal of the case.
The varsity alleged that the 11 students provoked other “200” students and allegedly “promoted enmity” and “incited violence”. They have been booked under IPC sections 153 (intention to cause riots), 153a (promoting enmity),143, and 149 (unlawful assembly).
“We are planning to protest and put pressure on the government and the university to withdraw the false case filed against students. We are also thinking of approaching the UGC with a complaint,” a student, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals, told South First.
While the varsity on 22 October announced an extension of holidays from 24 October to 29 October, the students called it a “strategy” to divert attention from the protests and the alleged sexual assault.
The faculty members also demanded that the FIR against the 11 students should be withdrawn immediately.
The proctor, in the FIR accessed by South First, stated that 11 students coerced him into calling up the professors named in the complaint.
Proctor Samson, in his complaint to the police, stated that the Muslim Students’ Federation (MSF) planned to conduct a programme in support of Palestine on the EFLU campus to flare communal tensions and create disharmony.
However, the students said the event — titled “Palestine: Perspectives on Literary Resistance” — was solely a literary discussion scheduled to take place at the EFLU’s New Academic Block on Thursday.
Samson added that the students used physical force, abused him, and prevented him from accessing drinking water or washroom facilities.
However, the students termed it “a blatant lie” in a bid to derail the protest against sexual assault that allegedly took place on the night of 18 October.
Meanwhile, at least five parliamentarians from Kerala wrote to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, demanding his immediate intervention in the “sexual assault” case. They also took the incident to the notice of the National Women’s Commission (NCW).
EFLU has a large number of students from Kerala. Several of them have been active in the recent protests.
John Brittas, Rajya Sabha MP, wrote a letter to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan regarding the EFLU issue. (Supplied)
As per reports, at least six of the 11 students booked were from Kerala.
Demanding immediate intervention, John Brittas, CPI(M)’s Rajya Sabha MP said: “…It is clear that by clubbing these two unrelated issues, the EFLU administration is trying to weave a communal narrative to polarise and divert attention from their apathy and inaction… It has also been brought to my notice that there has been a systematic targeting of students from Kerala by the EFLU administrations, which is clear from the fact that out of the eleven students accused in the FIR, six hail from the state…”
Another CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, V Sivadasan, sought justice for the survivor.
“There are complaints that instead of addressing the just demands of the students, the administration is trying to muffle the voices of dissent through punitive actions upon those who demand their due rights…I request your kind attention and immediate intervention into the issue so that the rights of the students are protected,” he said.
Earlier, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) Rajya Sabha members ET Mohammed Basheer and PV Abdul Wahab, and Lok Sabha MP Hibi Eden of the Congress also wrote to Education Minister, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar, and the NCW, respectively, seeking their immediate intervention.
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