hi One of our friend Saptrishi (from NUJS, Kolkata) has forwarded me a news report of Untouchability practices followed by the so called upper caste students in one of the Medical College in Culcutta.
The news was carried by Anand bazar Patrika, yesterday. He has translated below the news item into english so that we can forward it to all concerned. anoop *The Caste Ailment Strikes the **Medical** **College** Hostel This Time* Ananda Bazaar Patrika, Friday, 30th May 2008, page 4 Is Biman Basu going to arrange a communal dinning at the Calcutta Medical College? A few years back, the school students of Birbhaanpur in Bankuda district had boycotted the mid-day meals cooked by "low" caste women. It was said that they had been instructed to do so by their family members. The Left-Front chairman Mr. Biman Basu had gone there and had organized a communal dinning with all the caste members, thus saving the state government from much embarrassment. This time around, there have been allegations that some students at the Calcutta Medical College hostel have been prevented from taking water from the taps, on account of their "low" caste by their "high" caste classmates. For the same reason, the said students have been subjected to physical and mental torture also. It is surprising, that all those who were so vociferous against the divisive nature of "caste-based" reservations, should have such cases of blatant untouchability in their own backyards! Seventeen students of the first and second years, who are residents of the men's hostel at the college have expressed their grievances in writing, to the Dean Mr. Prabir Kumar Dasgupta and Hospital Superintendent, Mr. Anup Roy. In their written account, the aggrieved students have said that for the past few days, a group of students at the men's hostel had been abusing and taunting them in caste based terms. The situation took a serious turn on the night of 17th May. A group led by three students entered the hostel and started abusing them in caste-specific terms and warned them against taking water from the taps. When the latter protested, they were dragged out of their rooms and beaten up by the mob. The aggrieved students approached the authorities, in order to seek redressal against such violence. The authorities and the doctors at the Medical College are extremely upset about this kind of caste-centric disturbances caused by the students, within the hostel. On 19th May, the Hospital Superintendent, after making primary enquiries, constituted a committee comprising of four departmental heads, for conducting detailed investigations into the matter. The committee comprised of Dr. Siddharth Chakravarty of the Cardio-Thoracic Department, Dr. Sukanto Chatterjee of the Pediatrics Department, Dr. Tapan Kumar Basu of Forensic Medicine and Dr. Samir Dasgupta of Community Medicine. Investigations over, the committee is more or less certain that the incident had, indeed occurred. However, since the situation at the Medical College is perpetually tensed surrounding matters related to the hostels, the committee fears if the submission of the report would amount to adding fuel to the fire. The students, against whom the allegations have been made, have however denied that the incident ever took place. In the words of superintendent Mr. Anup Roy, "this incident has given me a mental shock. I am somehow not being able to accept such mentality and attitude of the students of the medical college. We have requested every student organization on the campus to monitor that such shameful incidents do not take place in future". The members of the investigation committee informed, that in order to test the validity of the allegations, all the seventeen aggrieved students were asked to write down their accounts of the incident, separately, in front of the committee. It was seen that all the seventeen students wrote similar descriptions. The committee members stated, "our report is complete. It is extremely demotivating. But given the turbulent situation at the medical college caused by the student movement, we really don't know what would happen when we release the report. And it is such considerations that are preventing us from submitting the report". The State Backward Class Development Minister, Mr. Jogesh Burman, expressed wonder when he was informed about the matter. In his words, "casteism is so ingrained in our psyche since time immemorial, that we have not been able to transcend it. During the left-front regime, we tried a lot to convince people against such things. But the fact that such an incident has occurred at a place like the Medical College implies, that our efforts have not actualized". -- Ranjit --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
The Caste Ailment Strikes the Medical College Hostel This Time.doc
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