A Dalit PhD student from Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) has moved to the Bombay High Court challenging his suspension by the college authorities. The student, Ramdas Prinisivanandan, was suspended by TISS for two years due to his “repetitive misconduct” and “anti-national activities”.
Ramdass, who is pursuing PhD from the School of Development Studies at TISS, filed a petition on May 4 seeking revocation of the suspension order dated April 18. The 30-year-old’s petition stated that being a citizen of India the Constitution allows his fundamental right to freedom and thought of expression, the Indian Express reported.
He has been barred from entering the TISS campuses in Mumbai, Tuljapur, Hyderabad and Guwahati.
The Progressive Students Forum (PSF), a student organisation at TISS which was formerly led by Ramadas, has alleged that the suspension came after he was found protesting in Delhi in January against the Union government’s anti-student policies.
In a notice sent to Ramdass dated March 7, TISS referred to instances like the screening of documentaries like ‘Ram Ke Naam’ ahead of January 26 as a “mark of dishonour and protest” against the Ram Mandir consecration in Ayodhya. He has also been accused of screening a banned BBC documentary on the TISS campus last January and also organising the Bhagat Singh Memorial Lecture (BSML) by inviting “controversial guest speakers”.
However, TISS claimed that the suspension order was issued after “a detailed investigation by an empowered committee into his repetitive misconduct over a period of time.”
Ramdass, in his petition, alleged that he was not given a chance to defend his side of the argument and was directly issued the suspension notice. Calling it an arbitrary investigation, Ramdas states, “The defence of the petitioner has not been taken into consideration at any point of time while arriving at the findings and decision by the committee. Moreover, a false story has been fabricated by authorities at TISS.”
The Bombay High Court will hear the matter on May 21.
