Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Central University and Cyberabad Police have admitted before the Hyderabad High Court that Ms Vinaya, mother of ABVP activist and research scholar N. Susheel Kumar who was allegedly injured in an attack by members of Ambedkar Students Association, in her petition had blown out of proportion the gravity of the incident to win the sympathy of the court.
Registrar B. Pandu Reddy in his affidavit submitted to the court said that it was a fact there was a scuffle between student members of the Ambedkar Students Association and the ABVP following objectionable messages on the Facebook page of Mr Susheel Kumar commenting on the protest by students of the ASA on the hanging of Yakub Memon.
The Dean of Student Welfare, on receiving a telephone call from the students of the hostel about the scuffle, alerted security personnel who rushed to the spot and pacified both the groups. Mr Susheel Kumar was escorted to the main gate by security staff, he added.
The Registrar told the court that later they were informed that Mr Susheel Kumar had been admitted to a private hospital in Chandanagar and Dr Anupama Row, medical officer, visited the hospital and examined the scholar and stated that she found some scratches on his left shoulder.
Committee warned both parties
The committee informed Mr Kumar was not present for deposition nor could he submit any letter or medical report indicating his condition. It recommended that a strong warning be issued to members of ASA, D. Prashanth, Vincent, Rohith Vemula (who has since committed suicide), P. Vijay Kumar, Sunkanna, Seshu Chemudugunta and also a strong warning to Mr Kumar.
This was done. When the committee report was placed before the EC, it resolved on September 7, 2015, to suspend the five students from the varsity. Their suspension was revoked on September 10. Cyberabad police commissioner C.V. Anand in his affidavit informed that after receiving a medical intimation from the private hospital, an assistant SI visited the hospital at night and recorded his statement and registered a case.
No evidence of assault: First report
The first report on the alleged attack on ABVP leader submitted by an UoH assistant registrar on August 12, 2015 stated that Proctorial Board could not get any hard evidence of assault on ABVP leader N. Susheel Kumar.
The report said that the admission of Mr Kumar in hospital was not linked to any assault. The report quoted campus security officer Dilip Singh saying that he did not witness any assault.
“The board could not get any hard evidence of beating of Mr Kumar either from Mr Krishna Chaitanya (another ABVP activist, who claimed to be a witness) or Dr Anupama.
The doctor’s report also could not link or suggest that the surgery on Mr Kumar was a direct result of the beating. She could only find some scratches on his left shoulder,” said the report.
“The security officer was the first one to reach the spot. When (the committee) asked about the beating, security officer Dilip Singh said that he did not witness any beating. He also said the scratches on the left shoulder of Mr Kumar could be the result of ASA activists trying to pull him out of the security vehicle,” said the report.
The report stated that there were heated arguments between ASA activists and Mr Kumar. “This whole argument ended with the apology letter of Mr Kumar,” said the report. Based these findings, in August the varsity issued an order ‘strongly warning’ both Mr Kumar and ASA students.
“A strong warning is issued to Susheel Kumar for posting of such comments (inflammatory) on Facebook. Strong warnings to the ASA students (five names mentioned) for going to Susheel Kumar’s room to ask for an apology instead of approaching the university authority,” said the order. However, this order was later overturned when MHRD sent a series of letters asking to punish the students.
