Disquiet at IIMC over casteist slur

A sense of disquiet prevailed at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) today, a day ahead of its annual convocation, which a section of its former students has decided to boycott over the allegations of "casteism" that has rocked the campus.
The student, who has been accused of writing a Facebook post against dalits, has written to the authorities claiming it to be a case of "personal vendetta" which has put his future in "peril". He has alleged the move against him was being "fanned" by a section of the faculty.
A 'Sadbhavna march' was also taken out on the campus of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry-run institute here by few students of the present batch (2015-16) with an appeal not to "sully" its name.

One of the former students, who has decided to boycott the convocation that is slated to be attended by Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, said they cannot be part of celebrations of a campus "which is trying to cover up an atrocious incident".
"We are not against a convocation per se. But we firmly believe that in the wake of recent incidents, as working journalists and conscious citizens we cannot be a part of the convocation," the former student belonging to the 2014-15 batch, said.
The Centre had yesterday asked a joint secretary-level officer to inquire into the allegations of casteist remarks made against students belonging to SC and ST communities of the institute after they protested over the death of Hyderabad Central University scholar Rohith Vemula.

In letters to the Social Justice Ministry and the Tribal Development Ministry, 17 students have complained against certain social media posts that first appeared on January 18. One of the complainants has also approached the SC/CT Commission.

Authorities have also formed a five-member committee to look into the allegations and submit a report in three weeks.
Significantly, the decision to transfer Sengupta came
within days of the I&B Ministry proposing a set of institutional mechanism including a code of conduct for teachers and employees that among other things included a "ban" on political activity by the faculty on the campus.

In his resignation letter, Sengupta flayed the decision to transfer him accusing the IIMC authorities of reducing the institution into a "hand-maiden of a vicious, undemocratic and partisan regime".
Sengupta, who has worked for leading dailies and magazines in the past, said the move to transfer him "arbitrarily" was part of a "larger witch-hunt" against intellectual freedom and to "target and eliminate individuals who this regime has declared as enemies for reasons only they know".
"In IIMC, I have perhaps taken the maximum number of lectures/workshops, like many of my learned faculty members. I have taught my students that they will never do journalism which professes xenophobia, casteism, sexism, racism, and communalism.

"That they should be objective and impartial. Also, that they should have open-ended, non-dogmatic and independent minds and stand for truth and public interest, come what may. I presume I am paying a price for that," he wrote.
Sengupta said that it was an "honour" for him as a former JNUSU president to address the open air gathering of faculty and students of JNU and that he was proud being part of the "great intellectual and political tradition" of JNU.
IIMC, run by the I&B Ministry, has been in the news in the recent past over students alleging "casteism" against their peers belonging to the SC and ST community.

The institute conducted a probe and ordered the expulsion of a student from its hostel here for three weeks for posting "offensive and insulting" remarks on social media against students belonging to dalit community.
Another student, a Dalit and a complainant in the case, has also been expelled from the IIMC hostel for a week for allegedly using "indecent and vulgar language" against a faculty member on a Whatsapp group.