Proctorial board for external probe into BBAU incident

A week after Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) rusticated eight dalit students for allegedly beating up a professor, the proctorial board on Thursday recommended an independent external inquiry into the incident and the allegations levelled by students that they were rusticated without fair trial.

The BBAU also set up an internal inquiry committee headed by SK Dwivedi with members drawn from SC, ST, OBC and minority community. The committee will hear the plight of expelled students and submit its report to vicechancellor RC Sobti by September 20, said Govindji Pandey, spokesperson, BBAU.

He said the university had put a ban on protest, demonstration and dharna on the campus. “Students who wish to hold protest on the campus will have to seek permission, failing which it will be termed illegal. The university has also decided to install more CCTV cameras near the administrative block,” said Pandey.

Shreyat Bouddh, an expelled dalit student, said if the university wants fair investigation into the incident then one of the members in the committee, Prof Sudarshan Verma should be removed as he was a part of the committee that rusticated eight dalit students.

Meanwhile, support continued to pour in for eight Dalit students who were rusticated from BBAU. On Friday, a number of students at Jawaharlal Nehru University will burn effigy of BBAU administration at 9:30 pm to express their solidarity with the expelled students, claimed Shreyat.