Two professors of Gwalior's Jiwaji University have been booked under the provisions of SC/ST Act following a controversy over holding a programme to mark the birth anniversaries of Dr B R Ambedkar and social reformer Jyotirao Phule.
A complaint against the professors was lodged by a girl student of the University, who alleged that she was pushed and manhandled by them, said police.
Yesterday, police had arrested some Dalit students, who were staging protest against the alleged denial of permission to hold a quiz competition in the Law department of the University.
"We had arrested 167 students yesterday and later released them. Besides, a case against two professors including Ganesh Dubey (Head, Law Department) and RS Sharma (Proctor) was also registered under relevant section of SC/ST Act on the complaint of a girl," City Superintendent of Police (University), Gwalior, Shailendra Singh Jadon told PTI.
"No arrest has been made so far. Earlier, a case against some students was registered on the complaint of professor Sharma," he said.
The dispute started on Friday last week when some law students approached the Dubey seeking permission to hold quiz competition on April 11 to mark the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar (April 14) and Jyotirao Phule (April 11).
After getting no response from Dubey, the students reportedly met the Vice Chancellor, who deputed Proctor RS Sharma to talk to them.
The students, however, allegedly insisted that they would talk only to the Vice Chancellor. This reportedly led to heated arguments between professor Sharma and the students.
Later, professor Sharma registered a complaint with the police against the students for allegedly manhandling him.
The students also alleged that professor Sharma manhandled them.
University's Registrar Anand Mishra told PTI that all the issues have been sorted out now.
"We were always ready to issue permission for holding the quiz competition in the auditorium. But, the situation deteriorated as students misbehaved with professor Sharma. Both the sides have registered police complaints against each-other," Mishra added.
He said that Dubey had only pleaded before the students that he would have to take the permission from the university administration.
Meanwhile, the Dalit teachers and students today formed an organisation - Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Bahujan Samajik Parivartan Sangh (MP) to continue their fight in support of their demands including termination of these two professors.
The Sangh submitted the memorandum today to the Vice- Chancellor and the Governor.
"We have submitted a memorandum to the Vice-Chancellor and to the Governor through the SP. We have demanded that the cases filed against the Dalit students be withdrawn and HOD, Law Department should be terminated," Convener of Sangh Vinod Sevaria told PTI.
He demanded that Sharma and Dubey should be arrested immediately and the University's Law Department should be named after B R Ambedkar.
Sevaria claimed that the students were forced to resort to hunger strike after repeated denial by Law Department for holding the quiz competition.
"The auditorium hall was allotted to the ABVP. On the other hand, the professors used casteist remarks against the Dalit students. Some students were also threatened over phone," he alleged.
Sevaria said that a small issue has snowballed into a controversy due to negligence by the University administration.
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