The Joint Action Committee for social justice at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) which is spearheading the protests over Dalit research scholar Rohit Vemula's death, on Tuesday demanded that Chief Proctor Prof Alok Pandey should be removed from his post.
"We demand immediate removal of Prof Alok Pandey as the Chief Proctor to ensure an impartial and fair enquiry," it said in a letter to the varsity registrar, in the wake of a complaint filed by the MPhil student Amol Singh about an alleged attack on him by the ABVP members.
On July 16, a scuffle had broken out between two groups of students after a meeting was conducted to "condemn" the police action against protesters in Jammu and Kashmir, at the shopping complex on the varsity campus.
In his complaint, Singh alleged that ABVP leader Susheel Kumar and others rained punches and kicks on him on the campus after mistaking him for a Kashmiri student while he was returning after attending the meeting. Singh had claimed that he was attacked again near a hospital.
In a counter complaint, Kumar accused Singh and his friends of assaulting him and other ABVP members.
Kumar alleged that the group of students raised separatists slogans after the meeting on "Kashmir issue" following which they objected to it.
"The university has received complaints from students groups and (that) laid down procedures will be followed in dealing with the same," University Pro Vice-Chancellor and official spokesperson Professor Vipin Srivastava said.
The varsity's Proctorial Board is conducting an enquiry into the matter.
JAC alleged that Pandey's biased reports on alleged manhandling of Sushi Kumar by members of Ambedkar Students Association in August last year led to action against Vemula and four others.
"The two proctorial committee reports by Alok Pandey have been the basis of suspension of the five Dalit students (including Vemula)," it said.
The biased enquiry and reports by the Chief Proctor in Vemula case puts a question mark on credibility of the Proctorial Board, it claimed.