BANGALORE: The furore over the attack on some students of the Department of English of Bangalore University allegedly by a group of Dalit students is set to snowball into a major controversy.

Taking a tough stance, the university Syndicate on Friday gave the green signal for filing a criminal complaint against the students, and also decided to refer it to the varsity's Standing Committee on Sexual Harassment. A case was filed later.

About 50 students had allegedly beaten up a student of the English Department after news spread that the latter had reportedly used a derogatory term against Dalits.

The student was said to have wrongly translated a Kannada term, during an English class almost a month ago. The Dalit students had barged into the classroom and, according to a university source, beaten up the male student for about 15 minutes.

When some girls tried to intervene, the students also allegedly turned their ire against them.

The girls, including two Iranian students, were beaten up. There were also threats of rape, said a university insider, justifying the Syndicate's decision to refer the case to the Sexual Harassment panel.

Although the university top brass had intervened and pacified the students, the English Department was closed, and there were no classes for the last four days.

The Syndicate resolved to make all efforts to commence the classes at the earliest.

The Syndicate's decision has, however, not gone down well with many university professors.

Objection

Two Syndicate members had reportedly objected to the decision to file the criminal complaint.

It was also unprecedented in the history of the university that two professors from the English Department, including the chairman, were called to the Syndicate to report on the incident.

Terming the Syndicate's decision on the criminal case as "uncalled for," some professors and members felt the varsity could have awaited the Inquiry Committee's report before making a decision.

The committee itself was, meanwhile, expanded with the addition of a fifth member, Somashekhar.

The university in-charge Vice-Chancellor B.G. Sudha had ordered the inquiry on the same day of the incident, admitting that there was no cordial relationship between the teachers and students from the SC/ST community.

The State Government's delay in appointing a regular Vice-Chancellor has only added to the university's woes.

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