A dalit student of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has sent two letters to the vice-chancellor, Prof. S.K. Sopory, threatening to end his life if his research grant is not extended next year.
The JNU’s controller of examinations, Mr H. Sharma, said that the extension of the student’s senior research fellowship was withheld as he had not been able to get clearance from the finance officer. The outgoing vice-chancellor, Mr Sopory said the matter will be resolved soon and asked the university’s chief security officer to keep an eye on the student. Alleging that he has been “discriminated against and harassed” by his department, which is trying to block his Ph.D., the dalit researcher has demanded resumption of his fellowship in a week’s time or he threatened to commit suicide. In a separate letter, he contended that he was absent from the university for a certain period due to death of four members of his family, including his father and brother, and now that he has resumed his studies, he wants his fellowship to continue. The researcher with international organisation division, CIPOD, had received an advance payment of Rs 66,000 for his field trip to Brussels, Belgium. “The student was supposed to return this advance to allow his fellowship to continue,” added Mr Sharma.
The V-C, who demits office on Wednesday, said the matter will be resolved at the earliest.
