THE truth..........

Law Makers And Breakers-NSUI

Filed under: India n Me, Most Read, Mumbai, Random, opinions — Kaveetaa Kaul @ 3:29 pm

Trial by media was a bad enough phenomenon. Now it is the National Students Union of India which has anointed itself the custodian of peoples rights and a body to rectify wrongs..A situation not easily digestible.

Prof. Vilas Athawale of the reputed Wilson College had to face the wrath of students, have his face blackened, a ‘garland’ of chappals around his neck, and then paraded thus to the nearest Police station. Cause? An alleged molestation of a student almost a year back!! As if this is not reason to raise ones eyebrows at the sequence of events, the media was informed and had therefore thronged the college precincts in all its force, ready with cameras and scribes, to capture the gherao of the Biology Professor.

A sea of questions.. Why now, almost a year later? The professor was in charge of admissions and quota reservations..a possible fallout of students denied admission? Why did the NSUI resort to this almost barabaric act without a serious effort to judiciously settle the matter( the case is sub judice while the parents reportedly have agreed that there was no harassment) or in fact permitting the concerned authorities to mediate?

If the man is guilty, then law should have been allowed to take its course, especially in the circumstance when no further complaint necessitated the aggravation to this degree.

If he is innocent, then a gross violation of Human rights has occurred here. He is due to retire next year. A lifetime of deication and perseverence at bringing up generation after generation of kids and imbuing them with knowledge deserved merit and recognition. A hypotheticl dialogue would ensue thus:

“So what?!!..Guru..Respect..Deference..Haah!! We know better..Freaked out ideologies..Gimme a break…The guy is loony..Who can stop us from voicing our opinions… we know our rights.. We will punish those we think guilty..”

The fact that he is a senior professor, who has a multitude of students, parents and members of the faculty willing to back him and proclaim him innocent, is telling enough. Some even go to the extent of stating that he was a bachelor who had sacrificed his life for social welfare.

The professor was later released on bail after the college authorities and other supporters of the Professor collected at the police station to protest against the alleged ploy to malign him.

“Students unions have become like a mafia. If they can’t have their way, they resort to force and coercion. They enter colleges without permission of principals and create trouble.the government must curb this dadagiri, otherwise the unions might get bolder,” Dr Sirwaiya, Principal of wilson college said, adding that the college had decided to discontinue classes till action was taken against the NSUI.

As happens most often in such cases, truth lies hidden under feelings of embarassment or shame, while lies finds backers who worship at the altar of anarchy then encouraged and emboldened with multitudinous support raise hell in an effort to stymie the ‘decent lawful’ efforts of truth to vocalise its claim .

But truth prevails… Question is WHEN? Wont it be too late then? Are the students union not crossing all borders of ethical, moral and legitimate behaviour? What is the future of a country where misguided youth have been permitted to take law, manipulate it, probably being manipulated themselves by vested interests and playing cluelessly into the hands of those to whom human life and dignity holds little or no value when compared with the gourmand appeal of success!! Has education served the purpose it intrinsically denotes? Or is creating an uproar a fashion statement of the ‘truly liberated’?

original copied frm:

http://sachiniti.wordpress.com/2006/07/01/law-makers-and-breakers-nsui/

Mission to India, November 2004

check it out :

http://www.unaids.org/en/AboutUNAIDS/Leadership/EXD/Photo_gallery/2004-11-india.asp

news flash of NSUI

mumbai: activists of the national students' union of india (nsui) on thursday blackened the face of the acting principal of the watumull institute of technology, worli, over a complaint of alleged ``indecent behaviour'' with female students of the college.
a written complaint alleging that principal r.b. kulkarni used ``sexually coloured language, made indecent jokes and had, on more than one occasion, grabbed a female student's waist or tried to hold a girl's hand,'' was submitted to the nsui, the student wing of the congress, last week by the students.
``a similar complaint was filed with mumbai university's students' grievance cell on september 20, but the university failed to take action against mr kulkarni,'' nsui general secretary sadaf aboli told this newspaper. the students, however, have not made any police complaint.
on thursday, nsui activists tried to talk to mr kulkarni, but he reportedly refused to speak to them. the activists, supported by some students, then roughed up mr kulkarni and smeared boot polish on his face.
mr kulkarni was unavailable for comment. mumbai university vice-chancellor b.l. mungekar confirmed that the university had received a complaint against mr kulkarni. ``we will look into the matter on a priority basis,'' he said. asked why the university had failed to take action so far, he said, ``there are procedures that have to be followed in complaints of such a nature. a complaint regarding sexual abuse is an extremely serious matter.''
according to the students of watumull college, mr kulkarni's behaviour made them very uncomfortable. ``he cracks indecent jokes in the classroom and also comments on the physical appearance of girls,'' alleged a student.
the students have alleged that ``during the college picnic on september 8 at lohgadh near lonavla, mr kulkarni grabbed one of the girls by her waist while she was alone and made sexual comments''. the student told this newspaper that ``i have been feeling very uncomfortable in his presence after the incident at the picnic''.
in another incident, a female student who was unable to attend the picnic because of a urinary infection, was embarrassed by mr kulkarni when he allegedly announced her ailment to the whole class. ``on one occasion we asked him to stop such indecent behaviour, but he told us that we were misinterpreting his fatherly affection,'' a student said.
the students approached nsui only after university officials failed to initiate an inquiry into the matter despite the complaint. nsui has alleged that in the past when complaints were lodged with the grievance cell, the accused would often go scot-free and the complainant would be victimised.
``similar complaints of alleged sexual abuse in a college in vashi and byculla are also pending with the grievance cell. why is the cell not inquiring into the complaints,'' an activist asked.

FY admissions engineered: NSUI

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

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July 18: The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) has submitted a letter to the Mumbai University vice-chancellor alleging discrepancies in admissions to first year degree courses.

When the first centralised admissions list was put up on Thursday at the Fort campus, candidates were upset to find that either their seat numbers were missing, or they were admitted to the Institute of Distance Education despite having secured high percentages. Demanding an inquiry, Asif Khan, the Mumbai secretary of NSUI, alleged that some of the students have been discriminated against to protect the vested interests of certain affluent students.

Said Aziza Iqbal, a commerce topper from Panchgani College, who secured 74.83 per cent in HSC, ``My first choice was Sydenham, but I have only managed to get a seat in the night classes at St Xavier's, which was my ninth preference.'' Her father, Zafar Iqbal, added that he may file a writ challenging this admission procedure in the High Court. However, Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr Naresh Chandra told Express Newsline on Thursday that there was no fault in the admission system. ``The names of a few students were not there on the list as they had not filled the centralised admission forms properly,'' he said.

He added that first preference was given to in-house students, then to those staying in the vicinity of the desired college, and last came the open merit students. ``By July 21, we will be making a second list of students admitted, as it has come to our knowledge that certain students who had already secured seats in colleges had reapplied to the varsity for admissions,'' informed Dr Chandra. However, the NSUI said merit suffered because of the preference given to locality. It has also alleged that the reservation quota is being abused by allotting seats in colleges which have already filled their respective quotas, thereby creating excess reservation in some colleges.

check out: http://www.expressindia.com/news/ie/daily/19970719/20050713.html