Pune: FTII students’ body unhappy with clean chit to professor in caste-related discrimination complaint, seek fresh inquiry.

The FTII students’ association has demanded a reinvestigation — with more transparency — into a caste-related discrimination complaint filed by a former student. The complainant and the association have alleged discrepancies in the way the complaint was handled, in which the professor was given a clean chit, the association claimed. The institute maintained “appropriate action was taken as per findings”.

Written by Ravina Warkad

A former FTII student, had filed the complaint with the administration on December 13, 2023. The former student, who grew up in a Dalit basti in Chalisgaon, Jalgaon district, said his assignments at the institute would focus on his experiences of growing up in a Dalit household, and his personal experiences in public and educational spaces.

Talking to The Indian Express, he recalled his interactions with the professor. “During admission, orientation and interview, we were given exercises to write and narrate stories. In my stories, caste discrimination was a recurring theme or the main characters of my stories would be of Dalit background. At that time, the professor asked me for the first time why I write only about caste. The question didn’t feel odd at the time, it can come to anyone’s mind who watches my work. I said I grew up in a Dalit family and so I write about my experiences while growing up.”

He  alleged the professor kept targeting him for writing stories revolving around caste issues. He alleged that once he was denied location to shoot on the campus for an assignment. He also alleged discrepancies in the way the institute handled his complaint.

Backing him, a recent statement by the students’ association stated, “The institute formed a two-member committee to look into the issue. But the committee was formed arbitrarily. It comprised the SC/ST Liaison Officer from the institute as well as a legal consultant. The complainant had shown his dissatisfaction about the formation of the committee and its functioning way earlier… Though the committee was formulated as a ‘fact-finding committee’, it was revealed that towards the end of the investigation, both members gave separate reports about their conclusions regarding the incident, which were polar opposites. A third ‘anonymous’ member studied the two different reports of both members and gave the professor a clean chit.”

“Throughout all these proceedings, there was little to no transparency. There was no student representative within the committee…,” it further said.

He added that the entire batch had filed a complaint against the professor for mental harassment.

He also pursued the matter with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and said FTII started replying to him once he got in touch with the NCSC. He alleged that he filed an RTI to know more about the ‘anonymous’ third person who presided over the case but has not got any information yet.

FTII Registrar Prateek Jain said, “Yes, we received a complaint from a former student of FTII. Administration took serious note of the same and conducted an inquiry as per established procedure. The inquiry was completed in a completely fair and transparent manner. Action was taken as per the findings of the inquiry, which was also communicated to all concerned.”

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“Since the allegations were sensitive, the committee took some time to conclude the inquiry. The complainant was also made aware about the status. We have a robust system in place for students to register their grievances such as SC/ST/OBC/PwD liaison officers and a students affairs committee…,” he added.

Courtesy: Indian Express

Note: This news was originally published in indianexpress.com and was used completely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes especially for human rights.