Delhi University students, teachers demand removal of principal accused of slapping Dalit student

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of Delhi University students and teachers gathered at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh College campus on Monday to demand the resignation and arrest of principal Arun Kumar Attree. He has been accused of making casteist remarks and slapping a Dalit student, allegations that he denies.

Sumit Chauhan, a third-year Dalit student of BA Hindi (honours), has written to the Delhi University vice-chancellor stating that the principal “physically assaulted” him making a false accusation and hurled “casteist insults”. Chauhan said that he has been in “mental agony” since the incident and has said that principal Arun Kumar Attree “would be responsible if anything happens to him”.

He requested the vice-chancellor to take legal action against the Shaheed Bhagat Singh College principal.

Several faculty organisations also flagged Arun Kumar Attree’s alleged behaviour against faculty members from historically-marginalised Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, recruited into posts reserved for them.

Teachers accused the principal of making “false allegations” against reserved category faculty who have reportedly raised complaints against him prior to this incident.

Principal Arun Kumar Attree countered these allegations saying they are “fake” and that the incident was “instigated” by a faculty member who motivated the student to complain against him.

Dalit student physically assaulted

According to the letter written by Chauhan, the incident happened following the events of October 24, when the Whatsapp of Chauhan’s classmate “got hacked” and a set of “inappropriate videos” were sent from that phone to the class group. Chauhan said that he fixed the phone to help his classmate. He also said that a letter was sent through the student representative to look at the incident and to ensure that this is not repeated.

However, Chauhan said that several of his classmates named him as a suspect before an inquiry committee set up to look into the incident. According to his account, he was called to the university for questioning on October 25 at 10 am. Chauhan also said that he had cooperated with the investigation and turned in his phone like the other students.

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Chauhan then accused the committee of “violating his privacy” by checking his phone more thoroughly than they did for other students. He said he was also “mentally harassed” by certain faculty members even though he cooperated with the inquiry and was even threatened with expulsion. According to Chauhan, following his denial of the accusation, principal Arun Kumar Attree physically assaulted him

“When I continued denying these accusations, principal Arun Kumar Attree physically assaulted me. Because I was from the Dalit caste, he asked me to hide my caste, and asked me why I tell people my caste. He also threatened me with expulsion if I ever recount this incident to anyone outside the room. When I still denied the accusation he gave me permission to go home,” wrote Chauhan in his letter to the vice-chancellor.

Chauhan said that he was in “mental agony” throughout his stay at home and even “contemplated suicide” but only stopped himself thinking of his family’s poverty.

“I request the Vice Chancellor to take legal action against Principal Arun Kumar Attree. If anything were to happen to me then the Principal Arun Kumar Attree, professor Naman Jain, Sauarav, Ashish, would be responsible,” Chauhan wrote.

‘Baseless’ allegation, says DU college principal

Arun Kumar Attree, speaking to Careers360, said that the allegations are “baseless” and that he never slapped or made any casteist remarks to the student

“It is totally fake and baseless. There was an inquiry going on against the student. He hacked the phone of another student and used to send objectionable videos and offensive messages to teachers and students. He had admitted to doing this. He said ‘please forgive me, I won’t be doing this again,” said Attree.

“There is another professor Rakesh Kumar, whose inquiry is going on, he’s also from the Scheduled Caste. He used him. He instigated that an inquiry is happening against me and I have written on Facebook, now you also write then we’ll both be saved,” said Attree.

Complaints against the principal

Rakesh Kumar, a professor of Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, raised concerns about the resignation of a former faculty member who belonged to the reserved category. In a Facebook post, Kumar termed the resignation as suspicious and that an inquiry committee should look into it.

“A permanent teacher of the commerce department Irfan Ul-Haq, who belongs to the Schedule d Tribe category had resigned from his services within two months after getting a permanent job. I raised this issue in the college but I didn’t get any valid reason as to why Irfan Ul-haq has left his permanent job…We tried to call him on his cell phone but it was always switched off. It’s a very serious matter and must be inquired and the guilty should be punished,” wrote Kumar on Facebook.

Various student organisations such as All Indian Students Association (AISA), Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) came out in support of Chauhan.

Various faculty organisations also joined the protest and some even termed Principal Arun Kumar Attree as “casteist” and accused him of making “false allegations” against faculty from reserved seats.

“His act is against the human dignity and duties of a public servant. Most of the time he is exploiting his colleagues and college students. But this act is a shameless criminal act. He is a casteist and the Vice Chancellor must be sacked from the principal's post…In the recent past he had been continuously involved in making false allegations on teachers from reserved category who had already submitted applications against the principal,” said Social Democratic Teachers Front in a statement.