CONDEMNING THE SHRINKING DEMOCRATIC SPACES IN EDUCATIONAL

INSTITUTIONS

We, the concerned students, researchers and teaching faculty, of the National Law School of

India University, Bangalore express deep condolences on the sad demise of Mr. Rohith Vemula,

a PhD scholar in Science, Technology and Society Studies Programme at the University of

Hyderabad (UoH).

Rohith was one among the five Dalit students who were expelled from their hostels and were not

permitted to participate in the student’s union elections, enter administration building and other

common places in groups on account of an earlier alleged altercation with a member of another

student organization in the University. However, in the process, the present administration

ignored the discrepancies and inconsistencies in the findings and recommendations of the

Proctorial Board. Rohith and his friends were vocal about the instances of caste-discrimination

on campus, and have been fighting against the insensitive attitude of the administration, which

has shown blatant disregard for social justice and human dignity.

This horrifying incident cannot be viewed in isolation. Our educational institutions are becoming

increasingly exclusionary with time. This is also a reflection on the shrinking democratic spaces

within our institutions, with dissenting voices being brutally suppressed and termed as ‘anti-

national’. It is significantly an onslaught on the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by

the Constitution of India.

The Police registered an FIR on Rohith’s suicide, against few individuals, which includes the

current Vice Chancellor, Prof. Appa Rao Podile. FIR was registered under IPC section 306

(Abetment of Suicide) and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,

1989. Further, the students seeking end to discrimination against Dalits on campus, including

Rohith, had spoken about the vindictive nature of the administration on previous occasions. We

therefore demand that those who are responsible for Rohith’s suicide and social boycott of the

students be made answerable and an impartial investigation must be conducted to look into the

issue.

We stand in solidarity with the agitating academic community of UoH. It is our responsibility to

strongly condemn any such violations of human rights and uphold the spirit of the Constitution.

We condemn any attempt to shrink democratic spaces within educational institutions.

Signatures:

1. Deepankar

2. Osho Chhel

3. Gaganjyot Singh

4. Aditya Mehta

5. Karundeep Singh

6. Shreyas Satadeve

7. I.R. Jayalakshmi

8. Vijay Kishor Tiwari

9. Neenu Suresh

10. Sonali Charak

11. Chirayu jain

12. Simranjit Singh

13. Spadika Jayaraj

14. Kaushik Prasad

15. Rajini Murugeshan

16. Annie Jain

17. Apurva Wankhede

18. Rohan Gupta

19. Arti Kumari

20. Vani Sharma

21. TVS Sasidhar

22. Abhishek Kumar

23. Noaman M

24. Harsha N

25. Mukta Joshi

26. Megha Mehta

27. Ayush Singh

28. Divij Joshi

29. Beena

30. Elizabeth V.S.

31. Mathavi

32. Reeya Singh

33. Nandini Biswas

34. Pankhuri Agrawal

35. Dharma Teja

36. Nikita Garg

37. Pradeep Ramavath J

38. Jyotsna Sripada

39. Paldron Tenzin Tsering

40. Aditya Vardhan Sharma

41. Vikas Gautam

42. Sukhbeer Singh

43. Siddharth Raja

44. Protyush Choudhury

45. Hafsa Bashir Bhat

46. Neha Rajpurohit

47. Akash Meena

48. Aishwarya Gaur

49. Prachi Singh

50. Kriti

51. Aakarshi Agarwal

52. Pooja Singh

53. Yogesh Dilhor

54. Sanjana.M

55. Meghana Muddurangappa

56. Harjas Singh

57. Aditya Patel

58. Swati Mohapatra

59. Saumya Maheshwari

60. Padmini Baruah

61. Thangminlal Haokip

62. Devashish Yadav

63. Satya S. Sahu

64. Manmeet Singh

65. Aswin Vinodan K

66. Dr. Anuja. S

67. Abhijit Singh

68. Aneesha Johny

69. Ashwajit Gautam

70. Neeraj Panicker

71. Noaman M

72. Arvind Ghimray

73. Sneha S K

74. Ashwin Pantula

75. Anarghya Chandar

76. Shruthi Raman

77. R Jagannath

78. Dr.D.S.Makkalanban

79. Atulaa Krishnamurthy

80. Surbhi Ajitsaria

81. Bilal Anwar Khan

82. Nimoy Sanjay Kher

83. Simi Sunny

84. Anjali Shivanand

85. Kunal Ambasta

86. Shrikant Wad

87. Shibu Sweta

88. Samuel Sathyaseelan

89. Aditya Mukherjee

90. Sharvari Kothwade

91. Sharmila R.

92. Akshat Agarwal

93. Sharda S

94. Sharwari

95. Nupur Raut

96. Parth Singh

97. Dhruv Jadav

98. Aman Shukla