DUTA urges VC to probe Ramjas violence

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 24

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has asked Vice-Chancellor Prof Yogesh Tyagi to set up an enquiry against the perpetrators of the violence that rocked Ramjas College this week and press upon the police to initiate due process of investigation and bring those responsible to book.

In a resolution adopted by the DUTA Executive, the teachers’ body condemned the role of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the violence accusing it of indulging in “physical mob violence”.

The DUTA blamed the varsity administration for the incident and alleged that it has “repeatedly refused” to take action against the same student group that “assaulted” a teacher in SRCC in June 2016 and “attacked and harassed” the Dean of the Faculty of Law in November and December 2016.

“Allowing mobsters and anti-social elements to get away with impunity has emboldened them and the DUTA office-bearers themselves were at the receiving end of their physical aggression during a demonstration concerning Daulat Ram College in July 2016,” said DUTA president Nandita Narain.

Even as the DU administration said that the varsity proctor’s office is looking into the issue, the DUTA demanded that the VC issue a public statement guaranteeing that, henceforth, the students and teachers of DU will not be made to feel physically threatened or vulnerable for the ideas that they espouse publicly and the rule of law will prevail and arbitrate over any contentious issues in future.

DUTA secretary Sandeep said the DUTA also expresses solidarity with the Dean of the Faculty of Law and demands that those responsible for physically abusing her be punished.

Meanwhile, the Human Resource Development Ministry had yesterday sought a report from the university over the issue.