Dalit teacher ”slapped” by her high caste senior in Delhi University

New Delhi: An incident of insult of a Dalit teacher by a high caste teacher in Delhi universithas led to uproar among the community.

The teacher said in a complaint to the vice-chancellor and dean and principal of the college besides the police that yesterday in Laxmi Bai College of Delhi University, a high caste teacher of her own department slapped her during an argument.

The Head of the Hindi department of Laxmi Bai College asked Dr. Neelam to sign the minutes of the departmental meeting. On this, Dr. Neelam said she would not sign the document unless she had read the minutes. As their arhument was going on, the Department head slaped the teacher, she said.

There was a ruckus on this and the teachers shared the incident on Facebook. The incident has angered the Dalit community.

Doctor Neelam said thirteen teachers of the department were present at that time. ”In protest against this incident, I complained to the Vice Chancellor and the Dean and the Principal of the college and the police. Today I will also go to lodge an FIR.”

The teacher leaders of the university have strongly condemned the incident and demanded strict action against the guilty . Namdev, Abha Habib Renu Bala, Asha Jassal and Premchand etc. have commented on Facebook and condemned it, but the interesting thing is that when Neelam tried to lodge her written complaint to the principal, it was not registered. Then she mailed it to the principal.

Noted Dalit writers Jai Prakash Kardam and Chauthi Ram Yadav have also condemned the incident.
There have been incidents of discrimination against Dalit teachers in Delhi University. Recently, there was a lot of uproar in the matter of not giving classes to a Dalit teacher Ritu Singh of Daulat Ram College, and then the Scheduled Tribes Commission had issued a notice to the university.

Apart from this, the Parliamentary Committee related to the Ministry of Scheduled Tribes of the Lok Sabha had also issued notice to the school administration and there were agitations in the university over the issue.

–India News Stream