IIT-Madras scholar assaulted: Students extend agitation, pen open letter after dean refuses to act

After one of the students who led the beef protest at IIT-Madras in Chennai was assaulted, allegedly by students from a right-wing group, the dean of the institute has refused to act, according to media reports. Sooraj R, a student associated with the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, was injured in his right eye in Tuesday’s assault allegedly by some students claimed to be Sangh Parivar supporters.

The New Indian Express  quoted the students claims that none of their demands was met and that the administration did not even form any special committee to probe the matter. They said the administration had neither visited Sooraj nor have they extended any other support.

Open Letter by IITM Directors by Firstpost on Scribd

Some IIT-Madras students have written an open letter to the dean of the institute condemning the attack and urging the institution to take punitive action against those who have attacked Sooraj. They wrote about how IIT-Madras has been a space that was known to be tolerant of diverse politics and healthy debates and this is the first time and differences have taken the form of violence.

The New Indian Express report also spoke about how around 100 students from several student organisations were demonstrating against the incident. Pro-Left student bodies on Wednesday staged a protest outside the IIT Madras condemning the attack on a PhD scholar for taking part in a beef fest in the campus opposing the Centre’s ban on sale of cattle for slaughter.

“The fact that this happened to a research scholar like Sooraj points towards the magnitude of perversion entrenched in the students who attacked him,” read the letter.

With inputs from PTI