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'Conquering Institution': Justice S. Muralidhar On Dismal Prospect Of Secular Education
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBC1Bp-2IQ The dismal prospect for secular education could well characterize what is happening in government run schools across the country including the kandri vidyas. There is a renewed stride and see to these schools hosting events that further the Hindu right-wing agenda. Professor Krishna Kumar laments the disillusionment of teachers in government schools being reduced to event managers or uploaders of incomplete data with little or no time for their primary task which is imparting education. All this on top of the fact that there are several documented studies to show that the state of infrastructure in the public schools across the country is pathetic to say the least. A wfulful shortage of everything essential. Teachers, classrooms, chairs and tables, blackboards, clean drinking water, clean toilets. Naturally, therefore, the private tuition industry is flourishing. The hope of academic freedom to pursue education is but a distant dream for those who cannot afford the costs. In the third scenario, the attack on the Dalith boy by the dominant cast Hindu boys, the Tamil Nadu state government stepped in to provide relief for both the medical treatment of the young boy and his sister, but also ensured his admission to another school where he continues to do well in his studies. When Justice Chandru met him, he wished even his attackers that they would do well in their studies. And Justice Chhatru was astonished that such a young boy could display so much maturity. He was again recently attacked physically, but it is possible according to media reports that this did not have a cast angle. Dr. Sia Dingra talks about the recent phenomenon of dozens of RSS swam seek triumphantly marching across the JNU campus with the drums, trumpets and clashing symbols. Many wielded the customary shaka latis unimaginable 12 years ago. One of the professors who spoke to her commented, and I quote, “Earlier, admittedly, the teachers had a bias against students who subscribed to the BJP RSS's ideology, but there was never a full-blown attack on academics itself.” And he added, and I quote, “The problem is that as a result of the former left's volability all these years, JNU came to represent the deep feelings of victimhood and otherization harbored by the right. That is why winning JNU has been almost more important for them than winning some state elections. It is like finally conquering the institution that has represented their intellectual marginalization and humiliation for decades. This is the same ABVP which has facilitated the rise of many a present day leader. the prime minister, the home minister, the Raa Mantri, several ministers of the union cabinet, many of the chief ministers of the BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, former ministers like the late Arun Jetti, Praash Jawadka, Ravish Shanka Prasad and even the vice president, former vice president Wenaidu. They were all student leaders once who cut their teeth with the ABVP and were focused on challenging the ruling establishment of their times. They do they they did undergo persecution and even imprisonment during the infamous emergency unleashed by Mrs. Gandhi and her cronies. However, one doesn't recall their being called to tou or antinational. Professor Gan Prakash disagrees with the widely shared prognosis that what we are undergoing as a country today is another undeclared emergency. According to him, what we have today is a more virulent form of totalitarianism where dissent is simply eradicated from public spaces aided by the complete control of the mainstream media both electronic and social. Also, the heavy hammer of a bouquet of repressive criminal laws brought against the present day academics and students appears unrelenting. The instances that have been much discussed in the media reveal a pattern to the ABVP's methods. They can vandalize departments if they feel that a teacher has said something in class that they think is in insulting to Hinduism or hurts religious sentiments. protests against appointment to academic positions of whom they perceive to be left liberal, secular or urban maxel. In November 2018, historian Ramchandra Goha withdrew from a teaching position he was offered at the Ahmedabad University. Dr. Fio Khan was offered his first job to teach Sanskrit literature at the Banaharas Hindu University could not conduct a single class. Some 30 students of the ABVP staged a sit in outside the vice chancellor's office in protest saying that it wasn't right for a Muslim professor to be teaching them Sanskrit. They obviously disagree with the recent Supreme Court judgment that reminded us that Udu is an Indian language and that language is not tied to religion and that multilingualism is a reflection of India's reality. Women teachers in Maharashtra have had their classes disrupted by angry mobs of ABVP cards demanding apology for what they perceived to be an insult to Chhatrapati Sivaji. Instead of proceeding against them, the Satara police booked the teacher for causing disturbance of peace and this had to be undone by the Bombay High Court. Subsequently, even private universities are succumbing to pressures of not only the ruling establishment but vigilante mobs furthering the right-wing agenda by not supporting their own faculty who have asserted the right of academic freedom. These institutions have forced their resignation. The resignation of professor Sabisachi Das of Ashoka University is one such instance. This vindicates the observation of the special rabbiteer and I quote her. Academic freedom is curtailed when universities seeking state resources and/or patronage enter into compromising relationships with people in power. We are seeing this play out in the US now resulting in a curious situation whereby academic freedom is suppressed with the apparent support of the academic establishment. The net result is a system operating mostly through hidden selfcensorship. Most more recently, Professor Mahudabad was booked for a social media comment made by him following the press briefing held by the armed forces on operation sindur. The Supreme Court protected him from arrest but astonishingly directed that the SIT constituted by it will analyze the hidden meaning of the words used by him. Even private think tanks have not been spared and the center for policy research has been raided with the IT and the ED uh issuing showcase notices to it.
On the Legal Regimes And Courts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMkDc2nzwAg I now move on to something that is very close to what I do. That is the legal regime and the courts. Let us briefly examine what the legal regime in our country is concerning education and academic freedom. Article 39F of our constitution talks of the unenforcable right of a child to be provided by the state opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. Another directive principle is in article 45 which originally provided that within a period of 10 years the state shall endeavor to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 years. In 1993, the Supreme Court of India in the landmark decision titled JB Uni Krishna versus State of Andhra Pradesh declared that the right to education is a fundamental right of every citizen up to the age of 14. It took another 10 years for the parliament in 2002 to insert article 21 capital A in part three of the constitution to recognize as a fundamental right the right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 to free and compulsory education. that however was made dependent for its enforcement on a law made by parliament. Incidentally, this amendment was notified only eight years later with effect from 1st April 2010, the same date on which the right to free and compulsory education act, the RTE act became operational. Correspondingly, article 45 was amended to the effect that the state shall endeavor to provide early childhood care and education to all children till they complete the age of six. However, by restricting the fundamental right to education under article 21A to children between the ages of 6 and 14, the constitutional promise remains incomplete. The judgment in JT Uni Krishna was in a case concerning the malaise of capitation fees being collected for engineering and medical seats in private educational institutions. That problem however continues. Two other constitutional provisions that require to be noticed are article 51 capital A clause H which states that it shall be the duty of every citizen to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. Another provision is clause K of the same article 51 capital A which states that every citizen who a parent or guardian shall provide opportunities for education to his child or as the case may be ward between the ages of 6 and 14 years. Article 25 guarantees to all persons the freedom of conscience, the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. Article 30 recognizes the fundamental right of both religious and linguistic minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice. The high courts and the Supreme Court engage on a regular basis with numerous issues concerning the right to education including the admission of students to professional courses, reservation of seats, appointment of teachers and principles in schools, vice chancellors in universities, anti-aging measures, recognition and affiliation of educational institutions and so on. As regards minority institutions, two important decisions in the recent past deserve mention. In November 2024, the Supreme Court recognized the right of the Madras in UP to run schools providing for religious instruction and imparting education in other subjects up to standard 12. It did not however permit them to award degrees or diplomas. In the second decision by a narrow majority of fours to three, the Supreme Court held that the Aligar Muslim University would not lose its minority character only because it stood converted into a university by way of a pre-independence statute. Yeah. Thank you. [Music] However, these instances do not quite test the court's responses to curbs on academic freedom. Where they do, the result can be disappointing. One such instance has been the judiciary's handling of the cases of students and teachers jailed for protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 and its aftermath. It will be recalled that spontaneous protests erupted not just in Delhi but throughout the country and even among the Indian diaspora world over. Several hundreds of the protesting students and academics were arrested by the police. Some of them were booked under the repressive unlawful activities prevention act the UAPA for alleged antinational activity only to ensure that coming out on bail is next to impossible. 5 years have passed and with no prospect of the trial in these cases commencing anytime soon, there appears to be no real justification for denying them bail. And now I come to the case of Professor Sai Baba. The manner in which the Supreme Court of India dealt with the case involving Professor Gian Sai Baba who taught English at the Delhi University has had many illegal scholar express sus surprise and disapproval. A detailed discussion of the case at this stage may not be warranted as it is still pending the Supreme Court. Yet what we need to know is this. The entire case of the prosecution in support of its invocation of the provisions of the UAPA was that Professor Saiaba was part of a banned terrorist organization had planned to commit a terrorist acts. The case rested entirely on the electronic evidence in the form of CDs, pen drives, and a laptop ceased from his residence on 12th September 2013. He was arrested on 9th May 2014. Having been afflicted with polio since his childhood, Professor Alibaba was permanently on a wheelchair. Despite this, bail was refused. It took him 10 years to finally emerge a freeburn person. As was mentioned earlier on 17th March on 7th March 2017 the trial court found professor Sai Bababa and the other co-acused guilty but this judgment was overturned by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on 14th October 2022 more than 5 years thereafter the high court held that the proceedings in criminal cases were null and void for want of valid sanction in terms of section 45 subsection one of the UAPA Literally overnight and this too was adverted too. Literally overnight an appeal was filed by the state of Maharashtra which was taken up by a special bench of the Supreme Court on the very next morning which was a Saturday that is 15th October 2022 in the residence of one of the judges. The acquitt was stayed perhaps a rare occurrence in the history of the Supreme Court. Professor Sai Bababa continued therefore in the Andas cell in the Nagpur central jail with the Supreme Court being unmoved by his deteriorating medical condition. It took another 6 months for the Supreme Court by an order dated 19th April 2023 to remand the appeals to the high court for a fresh hearing. For the second time by judgment dated 5th March 2024, another bench of the Bombay High Court at Nagpur acquitted all the accused by holding that not only was there no valid sanction to prosecute any of the accused but that the evidence gathered did not prove the case of the prosecution. Fortunately, in the further appeals by the state against this judgment, no stay was granted by the Supreme Court. As a result, Professor Saiaba could ultimately come come out of jail a free man with his head held high but his body badly wrecked by the callous treatment he received at the hands of the state during the 10 plus years of incarceration. The process was the punishment. Unfortunately, he did not live long thereafter and succumb to a post-operative complication after undergoing surgery for gallbladder stones. He was just 57. He was an intellectual whose PhD was in on Indian writing in English and nationmaking. Two volumes of his writings and poems while in prison have been published. The question that troubles one's conscience the most is this. Who will be held accountable and when for what the system did to a man of learning and forbearance? Justice appears to have eluded academics and students in the above instances where they've been accused of being antinationals and charged with offenses under draconian criminal laws. But then it also appears to elude them when they are the victims in the hands of the non-state actors like vigilante groups and dominant casts. I will make good this comment by referring to the aftermath of the three scenarios I referred to at the beginning of my talk. In the first scenario in the Indor government new law college case, it was only in May 2024 that the Supreme Court quashed the FIR against Professor Rahman and his three accused after the terming the criminal case is observed. However, Professor Rahman who was forced to resign remains uncompensated for the agony and humiliation he has undergone. The others two have not been able to return to the GNLC. This is not an isolated instance. There have been persistent attacks by Hindu right-wing groups on educational institutions across the countries run by Christian missionaries. The priests and nuns are harassed. Congregational prayers are disrupted. The land is encroached upon or building buildings bulldozed and some of them falsely accused of indulging in forcible conversions. These cases too are engaging the attention of courts. In the second scenario, the case of the young Muslim boy slapped repeatedly by his classmates at the instigation and instruction of his teacher. That case was taken to the Supreme Court by Tushar Gandhi. The court found egregious violations of section 17 of the RTE act which prohibits any child being subject to physical punishment or mental harassment. The state has been asked to bear the entire cost of the education of the child till he completes his schooling. The case remains at the Supreme Court for monitoring. Heat. Heat.