The Bombay High Court, today, Wednesday, March 12, rejected a plea by Ramadas KS, a Dalit PhD scholar and student leader at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
The court dismissed his plea to absolve his two-year suspension for alleged “repetitive and anti-national activities", reported Maktoob Media.
The Division Bench, comprising Justices Atul S Chandurkar and MM Sathaye, dismissed the petition, stating, “We find that this is not a fit case to interfere. There is no merit in the petition, and the same is dismissed.” The court upheld TISS’s decision, reinforcing the institution’s authority to discipline students based on its findings.
What had happened previously?
Ramadas, affiliated with the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF)-TISS, faced suspension following an Empowered Committee investigation into his conduct.
The institution, based on his participation in a January 2024 protest in Delhi under the PSF-TISS banner, deemed that his activities did not align with national interests. The university further argued that public institutions cannot tolerate actions that undermine the nation and its integrity, giving justification for the two-year ban.
This was Ramadas's defence...
Filing his petition in May 2024, Ramadas sought to overturn the suspension, claiming TISS ignored his explanations and fabricated a narrative to target him for his political beliefs.He invoked his Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and association, alongside University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines promoting open debate and critical thinking in academic spaces. He further accused the institute of discriminating against him.
While TISS defended its stance on safeguarding national interests, Ramadas’s plea framed the suspension as an attack on dissent, raising questions on the limits of student activism in India’s public universities.
