The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) has ordered the expulsion of a student from its hostel in New Delhi for three weeks for posting "offensive and insulting" remarks on social media against students belonging to the SC and ST community.
Another student Prashant Kanojia, who is a dalit and incidentally is a complainant in the case regarding the remarks against the SC/ST community, has also been expelled from the hostel of the premier journalism institute for a week for using "indecent and vulgar language" against a faculty member on a WhatsApp group.
The inquiry committee of IIMC observed that Utkarsh Singh, a student belonging to Hindi Journalism course, had posted on Facebook issues related to reservation using "provocative and unparliamentary" words.
"The matter has been considered and it is felt that the language used by you was offensive, grossly provocative, insulting and unparliamentary. It also resulted in a great deal of dissatisfaction and unrest within the IIMC campus.
"You are hereby expelled from the hostel for a period of three weeks with immediate effect. You are hereby warned to be careful in the future," an order signed by Deputy Registrar of the institute P V K Raja said.
Singh has sought a reconsideration of the punishment in a letter to the authorities and the hostel warden.
Kanojia, who is pursuing English journalism course, has been expelled from the hostel for a week as it was established that he used "expletive" against a senior faculty member, which has been brought to the notice of the authorities on February 4.
"The inquiry officer has recommended the imposition of penalty of expulsion from the hostel of the institute for a period of one week. The matter has been considered and it is felt that the language used by you was indecent, offensive, vulgar and unparliamentary," the order said.
Hit by allegations of "casteist" remarks, the IIMC, run by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, had last month ordered a probe into the incident and had set up an inquiry committee for the same. The ministry had also ordered a probe into the case.
In the wake of the incidents, the ministry has recommended the creation of a social media policy "which should emphasise on the dos and dont's and should be based on the code of conduct for students/employees."
The committee was set up after a group of students, including those from SC and ST community, had approached authorities alleging that "ill will" and "hatred" against them was being spread by some of their peers after they protested over Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.
Among the other recommendations, Mihir Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary in the I&B Ministry who headed the committee, has proposed a set of institutional mechanisms to deal with such situations in future including the creation of an SC and ST cell and the post of Dean of Students Welfare.
A code of conduct for teachers that bans political activity by faculty on campus and sensitization of students on issues related to caste, gender, religion was another recommendation.