Six students from Jain (deemed-to-be) University in Bengaluru have been suspended for allegedly making offensive remarks against Dr B R Ambedkar and Dalits during a skit earlier this month, varsity officials said.
The students were suspended on Saturday after a purported video of the skit went viral.
Siddapura police in Jayanagar also registered a first information report (FIR) under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, against the principal and senior officials of the university on Saturday. The University didn’t respond to the case.
According to the officials cited above, the skit, enacted during the varsity’s ‘Youth Fest’ by The Delroys Boys, a theatre group from CMS, on February 4 allegedly made offensive remarks against Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Ambedkar.
The university said a disciplinary committee has been formed as per guidelines of the University Grants Commission to probe the incident.
Outraged over the skit, a few college students began an online petition against the “incredibly casteist and insensitive” drama.
“It is unacceptable that the script for the performance went through multiple rounds of approval before being enacted on stage. The same insensitive script was enacted on February 5 by the same contingent at another college fest, sponsored by Under25 in Bengaluru,” the petition said.
On February 9, Nanded Police in Maharashtra also filed an FIR on the basis of a complaint by Aakshay Bansode, state member Yuva of Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi, seeking action against the university and its students.
The FIR was filed under various sections of the SC/ST Act and Indian Penal Code.
The Bangalore University Postgraduate and Research Scholars’ Association has also sought legal action under the SC/ST Act.
Dalit leaders and organisations condemned the drama.
“Casteist slurs are not satire! Students at Jain University, Bengaluru insulted Babasaheb and made casteist humour against the SC community. Such casteist & insensible skits are an attempt to mock the Depressed Classes,” activist Suraj Kumar Bauddh said.
The state Congress also raised concerns over the alleged casteist remarks.
“There is a video containing abusive and objectionable content on Dr BR Ambedkar and Dalit communities being exhibited in a programme organised at Jain College in Bengaluru. The police should take cognisance of the incident and initiate legal action,” the party said on Twitter.