Mothers of Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi move SC for putting end to caste based bias in campuses
New Delhi, Aug 28: The mothers of Rohith Vemula and Payal Tadvi, who had allegedly committed suicide following alleged caste-based discrimination, have moved the Supreme Court seeking to end such bias in universities and other higher education institutions across the country.
While Vemula, a PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University had committed suicide on January 17, 2016, following alleged caste bias, Tadvi, a tribal student at TN Topiwala National Medical College, committed suicide on May 22 this year due to alleged caste-based discrimination by three doctors in her college.
The plea said it seeks to enforce the fundamental rights, particularly the Right to Equality, Right to Prohibition of Discrimination against caste, and the Right to Life.
"The present petition pertains to the rampant prevalence of caste-based discrimination in higher educational institutions throughout the country. There have been several incidents of caste-based discrimination against members of the SC/ST community which reflects flagrant non-compliance with the existing norms and regulations in place for the same," the plea said.
The petition said these incidents are violative of the fundamental rights to equality, equal opportunity, right against discrimination, abolition of untouchability, and right to life guaranteed under Article 14, 15, 16, 17 and 21 of the Constitution.
The petitioners sought directions to the Centre and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to strictly ensure enforcement of and compliance with the UGC, (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, popularly called "UGC equity regulations".
They sought directions to the Centre and the UGC to ensure that all the universities, including deemed universities and higher educational institutions, comply with the UGC Equity Regulations in "letter and in spirit".
The petitioners have sought direction of the court to ensure that all the universities and Higher Education Institution (HEI) establish equal opportunity Cells on the lines of such other existing anti-discrimination internal complaints mechanisms, and to include members from the SC/ST communities and independent representatives from NGO's or social activists to ensure objectivity and impartiality in the process.
"To direct Respondent no. 2 (UGC) to revive and fund the activities of the Equal Opportunity Cells/SC, ST Cells in colleges and universities for sensitisation on caste issues," the petition said.
It sought direction to all universities to take strong disciplinary action against victimisation of students or staff who file complaints alleging caste-based discrimination and to take necessary steps in the nature of interim reliefs that restrain the HEI from creating a hostile environment against students who file such complaints.
Besides these directions, the petition sought various steps to ensure end of caste-based discrimination at the campuses.
"Since 2004, there have been over 20 documented instances of students committing suicides across the universities in the country. Various committees setup to look into these deaths have concluded that SC, ST students have faced systematic discrimination in matters of allotting supervisors, caste-based abuses, problems in matters of scholarships, and more," the plea said.
The plea said "in the present petition they are not raising the issue of individual trial or the merits of the case, neither are they claiming relief in relation to the individual cases. The petitioners are filing the present petitions in public interest."
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
