A case has been registered against the Director of the Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy, for allegedly engaging in caste-based discrimination and harassment of a Scheduled Caste professor.
A first information report (FIR) was filed under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at the Boiler Plant police station on Sunday, August 24, following a complaint by Assistant Professor CNS Ramnath Babu.
51-year-old Babu, from Tirunelveli district, joined the university in 2021 on probation. In 2023, he was terminated at the end of his probation period on grounds of “unsatisfactory performance.”
Challenging his dismissal, Babu approached the Madras High Court, which ruled in his favour and ordered his reinstatement with full benefits. The university’s appeal against this order was subsequently dismissed by a division bench comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and K Rajasekar, which upheld the earlier ruling.
Despite the court order, Babu alleged that the university refused to reinstate him. He further accused Director Asit Kumar Barma of subjecting him to caste-based harassment and professional isolation. According to his complaint, he was assigned menial tasks such as disposing of old plastic and iron scrap, denied core teaching responsibilities, and allotted only elective subjects despite repeated requests.
The professor said these actions caused him severe loss of livelihood, dignity, and professional standing. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had earlier observed that the director’s actions, if proven, amounted to a violation of Article 21 (Right to Life) of the Constitution.