The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘Caste discrimination cause of suicide’

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Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007
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Karnataka

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‘Caste discrimination cause of suicide’

Special Correspondent

‘Anti-Dalit attitude’ led to IISc student’s extreme step, say parents and SSD

SSD inquiry found that some professors were harassing Dalit students
IISc denies discrimination and says independent report is due

Bangalore: The suicide of Ajay Srichandra, a Ph.D. student of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on July 28, was a result of caste-related harassment, the Dalit boy’s parents and members of Samata Sainik Dal (SSD) have alleged.

Speaking to presspersons here on Tuesday, M. Venkataswamy, President of SSD, said that they would hold a protest in front of IISc on September 28 against the “anti-Dalit attitude” of some professors in the institution. Mr. Venkataswamy said that Ajay, a student of integrated Ph.D., had not committed suicide in his hostel room due to depression as made out by the police. Members of SSD had conducted an independent inquiry and found that some professors of IISc were harassing and discriminating against Dalit students, he added. B. Chennakrishnappa, Bangalore District President of SSD, said that other students were in the know about it but were not willing to openly admit it.

Ajay’s father Ravindra Kumar, who was also at the press conference, alleged that his son’s suicide note had been tampered with. “I was first told that my son had written a suicide note running to two or three pages. But some pages had been removed by the time I reached here from Hyderabad,” he alleged. SSD has demanded that criminal cases be booked against professors and an independent inquiry conducted into the case by University Grants Commission.

An official at IISc told The Hindu that “there appears to be no harassment of any kind”. The institute has formed a committee to look into the matter, the official said. “A committee was formed immediately after the death of the student. The independent report should be coming through in a few days.”

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