The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has sought an action-taken report from Jadavpur University within seven days following a complaint by an undergraduate student of the international relations department accusing a teacher of undermining the Constitution and B.R. Ambedkar.
The letter, signed by the commission’s director, which was addressed to JU’s acting registrar on December 30, says: “You are hereby requested to submit the facts and the action taken on the allegations/ matters to the undersigned within 7 days of receipt of this notice....”
The letter says that if the NCSC does not receive a reply “within the stipulated time”, the commission may summon the acting registrar for an in-person appearance before the commission.
The complainant, in an email to the commission on December 27, accused the university of “inaction.” She alleged that “the matter (complaint) has been treated with serious ignorance and inaction on the part of the central administration of the university authority.”
After she complained to JU vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee against the associate professor, an investigation committee was set up at the departmental level on December 16.
The student claimed the committee was instructed to provide a report within 15 days, but had not submitted any findings.
“I was not even called before the committee so far,” she told Metro.
The undergraduate student wrote to the VC on December 12 that when she
had sought the teacher’s suggestions on what she should study on the Constitution from the paper titled Indian Constitution, the teacher allegedly told her over the phone to “tear apart” the Constitution and “throw it into the water”.
The student in her written complaint also alleged that the teacher told her over a WhatsApp call, “What’s the use of studying Ambedkar and his constitutional debates?”
JU VC denied the charge of inaction.
“In December, as there was a vacation, the department did not have many working days. We will explain the situation to the commission. The complaint is being pursued seriously,” said VC, said on Friday.