A year after his controversial suspension, Dalit PhD scholar and left student leader Ramadas KS has won his legal battle against the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). According to Maktoob Media, the Supreme Court of India today, Friday, May 2, directed TISS to reinstate Ramadas as a student with immediate effect while hearing his petition challenging the two-year suspension and ban on entry to any TISS campus.
"Today, the Honourable Supreme Court has ordered TISS to reinstate me as a student with immediate effect, hearing my petition against the two-year suspension and debarring entry to any TISS campuses in three different states," Ramadas shared in a Facebook post.
Reflecting on his journey, he added: "On the 366th day of legal proceedings since approaching the High Court, I am officially a student again -from Today- at the very institution that denied me education 380 days ago."
Ramadas, who comes from Kerala's Wayanad and studies Development Studies at TISS Mumbai, began his legal battle in May 2024. He argued that the university imposed the suspension without properly considering his explanations, while the institution justified its actions based on an Empowered Committee's findings regarding his conduct, including participation in protests.
A former general secretary of the Progressive Students' Forum (PSF) at TISS Mumbai, Ramadas is now a member of the Central Executive Committee of Students' Federation of India (SFI) and Joint Secretary of SFI Maharashtra. He has been a vocal critic of the institute administration's policies.
In his statement, Ramadas connected his struggle to broader issues: "The denial of education to any student was never about affecting just one individual- it was about the fundamental rights of countless students and the question of campus democracy in our higher education system."
