Skip to main content

India's elite educational institutions turning into 'killing fields' for marginalised students

Dr Payal Tadvi
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*
The Supreme Court's order allowing the three accused of abetting the suicide of Dr Payal Tadvi – Hema Ahuja, Bhakti Mehare and Ankita Khandelwal – to complete their medical studies is deeply disturbing. It indicates a trend where violence against Dalits and Adivasis seems to be happening with impunity.
Payal belonged to the Adivasi community and worked hard to reach the stage where her dominant caste savarna seniors behaved with her scornfully and tried everything to fail or dissuade her from further studies. Payal's was an institutional murder, in which caste prejudices prevail. If the police worked under public pressure, courts were seen as wanting, and the result is that the court seems to be too much worried about the 'career' of the accused.
Our elite educational institutions have become the killing fields for students from marginalised communities. The atmosphere is so prejudiced that no attempts are made to make them better and feel equitable. There is little effort to bring them in line with the discourse on human rights, social inclusion and equity. In fact, the very term human rights is being degraded and criminalised.
How would you teach students human rights when the noise everywhere – right from your home to society – is that human rights upholders are a 'threat', that they are 'defaming' India. In fact, whenever caste issues are highlighted or discrimination is highlighted, some notorious IT cells are ready with their counter 'narrative' of 'defaming' India and working against 'social cohesion'.
Payal's story is no exception. In August this year, a young doctor belonging to the Dalit community, Dr Yogita Gautam, was brutally murdered by her senior in SN Medical College, Agra. Yogita's family is seeking justice for her and has named the senior for pressuring her. Yogita, 28, was serving Covid patients, while the senior is from another place and claimed to be in relationship with her.
Yogita's family says she never loved him, but he was forcing her, which ultimately resulted in her brutal killing. So far, we have not seen any outrage in the case, probably because the murderer is a Brahmin, and right now the media wants to play the Brahmins as victims card. Nobody knows what has happened to the case, whether chargesheet has been filed and where.
Last week, Dr Bhagwat Devgan, an OBC student in the Jabalpur Medical College, committed suicide, and his family blamed his savarana seniors for mentally and physically torturing him. But nothing has happened to them so far.
The death of some of the doctors belonging to scheduled caste (SC) category in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has not seen any proper investigation. It is AIIMS where the anti- reservation stir first took roots when the then Union human resource development minister, Arjun Singh, announced reservation in higher education.
All know what happened to the Rohit Vemula case. The entire narrative was built in such a way as if he was a criminal. Nobody knows about the status of the case.
In fact, most of the cases related to the massacre of Dalits – whether Chunduru, Karmchedu, Kumher, Shankar Bigaha, Lakshmanpur Bathe or at Khairlanji – never saw any final verdict. And when the Hathras case came into light, we witnessed an immediate counter-narrative and attempt to make the victim family criminal. An Ambedkarite, Se Raj Kumari Bansal, who came from Gwalior to Hathras to express her solidarity and even supported financially was made the scapegoat as a 'Naxalite'.
Supreme Court order in the Dr Payal Tadvi case must be reviewed in broader interests to make our campuses free from caste mindset
Not that other types of discrimination do not take place. There are poor Bramins or other savarnas who also suffer. Then there is discrimination against the physically challenged people, against those suffering from psychological and mental disorders, against those with dark skins, and against those who come from specific regions. There is a need to condemn all forms of discrimination.
But can one deny that there is no caste discrimination in India or there is no untouchability? By raising these issues do you become anti-national? In fact, compared to other forms of discrimination, caste discrimination affects a much bigger population.
It is time our Parliament and political parties take this issue seriously. It is not the case of one Hathras or that this type of discrimination is happening only in a particular State. In fact, one can see how the entire state apparatus behaves and tries to hide dirty realities and plays the caste card.
The Government of India, the Union HRD ministry, the National Human Rights Commission, the Union home ministry, the SC and ST Commissions, the Union ministry for women and child development – all need to sit together and ensure that our campuses are free from caste prejudices and any form of untouchability. The action must be swift and strong.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court should look at these issues comprehensively, and not through one particular case angle, appoint a judicial commission which can submit its report in a stipulated time frame. The commission must have members from SC-ST-OBC communities to ensure that our campuses become democratic both socially and politically.
One cannot allow the death of the younger generation to go on like this. It is the killing of dreams of millions. The order of the Supreme Court in the Dr Payal Tadvi case must be reviewed in broader interests to make our campuses free from the caste mindset.
If the accused get away without any exemplary punishment, others will continue to follow their path and destroy young aspiring lives of those coming from the margins.
---
*Human rights defender

Comments

TRENDING

'Draconian' Kerala health law follows WHO diktat: Govt readies to take harsh measures

By Dr Maya Valecha*  The Governor of Kerala has signed the Kerala Public Health Bill, which essentially reverses the people’s campaign in healthcare services in Kerala for decentralisation. The campaign had led to relinquishing of state powers in 1996, resulting in improvement of health parameters in Kerala. Instead, now, enforcement of law through the exercise of power, fines, etc., and the implementation of protocol during the pandemic, are considered of prime importance.

Reject WHO's 'draconian' amendments on pandemic: Citizens to Union Health Minister

By Our Representative  Several concerned Indian citizens have written to the Union Health Minister to reject amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022, apprehending this will make the signatories surrender their autonomy to the “unelected, unaccountable and the whimsical WHO in case of any future ‘pandemics’.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Savarkar in Ahmedabad 'declared' two-nation theory in 1937, Jinnah followed 3 years later

By Our Representative One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Bihar rural women entrepreneurs witness 50% surge in awareness about renewal energy

By Mignonne Dsouza*  An endline survey conducted under the Bolega Bihar initiative revealed a significant increase in awareness of renewable energy among women, rising from 25% to 76% in Nalanda and Gaya. Renu Kumari, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Nalanda, Bihar, operates a village eatery that serves as the primary source of income for her family, including her husband and five children. However, a significant portion of her profits was being directed toward covering monthly electricity expenses that usually reach Rs 2,000. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Work with Rajasthan's camel herders: German scientist wins World Cookbook Award 2023

By Rosamma Thomas*  Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the only awards for international food culture. This year, German scientist  Ilse Kohler Rollefson , founder of Camel Charisma, the first of India’s camel dairies, in Pali district of Rajasthan, won the award for her work with camel herders in Rajasthan, and for preparing for the UN International Year of Camelids, 2024. 

'Very low rung in quality ladder': Critique of ICMR study on 'sudden deaths' post-2021

By Bhaskaran Raman*  Since about mid-2021, a new phenomenon of extreme concern has been observed throughout the world, including India : unexplained sudden deaths of seemingly healthy and active people, especially youngsters. In the recently concluded Navratri garba celebrations, an unprecedented number of young persons succumbed to heart attack deaths. After a long delay, ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has finally has published a case-control study on sudden deaths among Indians of age 18-45.

Why is electricity tariff going up in India? Who is the beneficiary? A random reflection

By Thomas Franco*  Union Ministry of Power has used its power under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to force States to import coal which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity production and every consumer is paying a higher tariff. In India, almost everybody from farmers to MSMEs are consumers of electricity.

Union Health Ministry, FSSAI 'fail to respond' to NHRC directive on packaged food

By Our Representative  The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed deep concern over the adverse health effects caused by packaged foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fats. Recognizing it as a violation of the Right to Life and Right to Health of Indian citizens, the quasi-judicial body called for a response from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regarding its selection of front-of-pack labels aimed at providing consumers with information to make healthier choices.