The faculty at Hyderabad’s English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) issued a statement on Monday, October 23 condemning statements made by the University’s Proctor T Samson and demanding the withdrawal of the First Information Report (FIR) against 11 students from the University. The statement said that the faculty was pained at the insensitivity of some of the authorities concerned at the time of the sexual assault on a student.
Protests broke out in EFLU after news that a female student was sexually assaulted spread across campus with the students demanding the resignation of the Proctor and Vice Chancellor Suresh Kumar. In response to the agitation, the Proctor filed a complaint with the Osmania University police station. The subsequent FIR, registered on October 19 implicating not just the students accused but also two professors Dr BS Sherin and Professor Ipshita Chanda. The faculty’s statement is critical of the FIR and asks for it to be revoked immediately.
The letter questioned the administration for singling out these two professors and vilifying them. “We strongly condemn the Proctor’s accusations and demand that he cease persecuting our students, and demeaning our colleagues in this manner,” it said.
LETTER OF CONCERN FROM EFLU FACULTY
We, the Members of the Faculty of The EFL University, Hyderabad, are deeply shocked and horrified by the sexual assault on one of our students within our Campus on the night of October 18, 2023. We are also pained at the insensitivity of some of the authorities concerned at the time of the assault and during subsequent events. Our collective focus as a community, including the University administration, at this sensitive moment should be on assuring the safety and well-being of the survivor, restoring confidence among our traumatised students, and on ensuring that justice is served.
Furthermore, our colleagues who accompanied the survivor to the O.U. police station in order to facilitate the filing of a report on the assault were subjected to insults and humiliation by a Deputy Commissioner of Police. We would like to strongly urge the University authorities to ensure that the police take the crime of sexual assault seriously instead of prejudicing the case and attempting to create a communally charged situation where none exists.
In an attempt to escalate the situation, the EFLU Proctor has filed a police complaint against eleven students and an FIR has now been registered. The FIR implicates our colleagues whom the Proctor himself had officially summoned in the early hours of October 19, 2023 to assist him in addressing the situation arising from the assault. Two of our colleagues who responded to his request are now being accused of the serious charge of instigating the students against him, based on fabricated and fanciful statements. Their names and phone numbers have been stated in the FIR without their knowledge or consent. This reprehensible act against our colleagues carrying out their duty towards the institution is deeply disturbing to us as faculty members. We see this police complaint as a breach of trust among colleagues who were involved in the matter only upon Proctor's request.
We strongly condemn the Proctor’s accusations and demand that he cease persecuting our students, and demeaning our colleagues in this manner.