[Reader-list] Fwd: Petition to the President of India to Institute an impartial judicial inquiry into the death of Mudasir Kamran, PhD Scholar, English &ForeignLanguages University, Hyderabad, India

[Koonal Duggal]

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From: baidurya chakrabarti <baidurya at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 8:29 PM
Subject: Petition to the President of India to Institute an impartial
judicial inquiry into the death of Mudasir Kamran, PhD Scholar, English
&ForeignLanguages University, Hyderabad, India
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*Regards,*
*BAIDURYA CHAKRABARTI*
*PHD SCHOLAR, CULTURAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT,*
*THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY,*
*HYDERABAD, INDIA*

It is with a sense of shock and dismay that we are writing to you on behalf
of the entire student community of the English and Foreign Languages
University (EFLU), Hyderabad, seeking your urgent and immediate
intervention to resolve the crisis following the suicide of Mudasir
Kamaran, a PhD scholar from Kashmir, on March 02, 2013. The circumstances
that led to Mudasir’s suicide are shrouded in mystery, and the University
administration has not only been evasive in taking steps to bring out the
facts, but also has been distorting the facts and spreading rumours and
falsehood in order to cover up the issue and avoid fixing liability on the
University officials who seem to have been instrumental in Mudasir Kamran’s
suicide through their acts of omission and commission.

Sir, it is not possible for us to go into all the details of the case in
this representation, but we have attached a detailed report on the incident
prepared by the members of the Struggle Committee for Justice for Mudasir
Kamran for your kind perusal. We would like to place the following facts
for your immediate attention:

1. Mudasir’s suicide is an event that has shaken the entire student
community of EFLU. We have been protesting for the past ten days, but the
Vice-Chancellor has refused to address any of our concerns. The entire
student community boycotted classes for more than a week.

2. Mudasir was taken to the Osmania University Police Station detained for
some time on the night prior to his unfortunate suicide. There is ample
evidence to show that the University Proctor made statements questioning
Mudasir’s mental stability and also abused him in front of other students.
In a meeting with the students that has been videographed, the
Vice-Chancellor has also conceded that the Proctor had a role to play in
this, although she along with the police is trying to shield him now.

3. Students who were with Mudasir after his release from the police station
report that Mudasir was crying inconsolably all through that night and the
next day as he was mentally tormented at the abuse and insult that he
suffered from the University Proctor and the police. The next day evening
he was seen hanging in his room. We are sorry to say that there was no
effort made by the University officials or administration to counsel
Mudasir or to take any steps to ensure that nothing untoward happened to
him.

4. Although an FIR u/S. 306 of IPC is registered against the Proctor (for
abetment of suicide) in the Osmania University Police station following the
complaint lodged by a group of students, no action has been taken by the
police. Instead of investigating the circumstances that led to Mudasir’s
death, the Vice-Chancellor, in collusion with the police has been actively
campaigning against Mudasir in order to cover up the lapses on the part of
the University administration. The Vice-Chancellor also brushed aside the
student’s legitimate demand that the Proctor should step down and that
there should be an independent and impartial inquiry into the whole matter.
We are sad to say that the conduct of the Vice-Chancellor after the event
has not been becoming of the head of a Central University, where students
from all over India who belong to various communities and regions come
together to study.

5. It is extremely important to ensure that there is transparency about the
events behind Mudasir’s suicide and that it is handled with utmost
sensitivity. Sir, “sensitivity”, we hope you will agree, cannot be shown by
trying to hide and distort facts or by refusing to shoulder responsibility
and fix liability. Transparency and sensitivity become all the more
imperative when the administration is dealing with students from vulnerable
circumstances, be it Dalit, Adivasi, Bahujan, or religious, regional and
sexual minorities. The instant case, we feel, has instilled a sense of fear
and insecurity in the minds of hundreds of Kashmiri students studying in
various institutes of Hyderabad.

6. Any internal inquiry set up by the Vice-Chancellor will only be a farce.
It is unlikely to expect the truth to be established by a committee set up
by the University. The University’s malicious attempt to conceal facts and
spread canards about Mudasir has been exposed by the newspapers. In a
report on March 14, 2013 in Times of India, it is claimed that Mudasir
Kamran wrote three complaints to the Proctor between February 4 and 15,
2013, where he even makes reference to explicit threats to his life from
some other students. This shows that there is more than mere negligence on
the part of the University administration. By willfully suppressing this
fact, the University administration seems to be actively engaged in
distortion and character assassination of Mudasir. Therefore, a committee
set up by the Vice-Chancellor will be meaningless.

7. It is a matter of grave concern that this is the fourth death occurring
on the campus of EFLU, which is only five years old as a Central
University. Among the four who died, one student was a Dalit, another one
from OBC, and now Mudasir a Muslim from Kashmir. Among the four deaths,
three of them are instances of suicide. Sir, as the Visitor of the
University, I hope you will be able to understand the fear psychosis that
is created in the minds of the students regarding the well being of the
students from vulnerable sections.

Sir, we request you to exercise the power vested in you under Section 9(2)
of the English and Foreign Languages Act, 2006 (7 of 2007) and take
immediate steps to institute an impartial judicial inquiry into the role of
the University authorities including the Proctor, the CPD authorities, and
the Vice-Chancellor in the events prior to and subsequent to the tragic
suicide of Mudasir Kamran. Given that no such inquiry can be successfully
conducted while the Vice-Chancellor and the Proctor are holding their
offices, we also request you ensure that the Vice-Chancellor and the
Proctor are suspended till the completion of the said inquiry.

Let us also take this opportunity to put forward the demands that we have
been raising:

1. An impartial judicial inquiry should be instituted immediately.

2. The Vice-Chancellor and the University Proctor should be suspended
pending inquiry.

3. The University should earmark a specific amount of money to pay
compensation to Mudasir’s family. There is a precedence of this when EFLU
gave compensation to the family of Muthyam, a student who died in 2010 on
campus due to administrative negligence in providing medical help. In
another incident, the University of Hyderabad paid compensation to Senthil
Kumar, a Dalit student who committed suicide.

4. Structural changes must be made and institutional support systems set up
to address the emotional and psychological needs of students, especially
those who come from minority or backward communities or conflicted regions.

5. There should be a written apology from the University administration to
the members of the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad.
*B*

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