Despite lawsuits and intimidation tactics, we persist with your support. Contribute as little as ₹ 200 a month and become a champion of free press in India. New Delhi: A year after the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, had suspended a Dalit PhD scholar on the charge of “misconduct” and “anti-national activities” because he took part in a protest rally against the Narendra Modi government, the Supreme Court has given him relief.

> Though a two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan did not invalidate the suspension order, it, however, directed TISS that its period be reduced to what he has already undergone, and he be allowed to complete his PhD. > On April 18, 2024, TISS had suspended the scholar, Ramadas K.S., for two years and barred him from entering all its campuses after he participated in a protest held against the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) brought by the Modi government. The protest, called ‘Parliament March’, was held on January 12, 2024, by the TISS-PSF (Progress Students’ Forum) and had called for rejecting the ruling BJP.

> Also read: Mumbai Police Detain Protesters at TISS > The TISS, based on a report on the matter by its empowered committee, had also objected to Ramadas’ social media posts asking students to attend the screening of Anand Patwardhan’s hard-hitting film on the Ayodhya dispute, Ram ke Naam. > Ramadas, thereafter, had approached the Bombay high court for relief and stated that the committee’s report against him was due to discrimination based on his Scheduled Caste status, and that it was also against his freedom of expression. > In May 2024, appearing before the court, the TISS’s counsel had said that he had a “remedy” in his appeal from suspension before TISS vice chancellor and the court ought not to have entertained the petition.

> This past March, the high court had dismissed the plea and stated that it was not “an outcome of discrimination” or against freedom of expression. > According to a LiveLaw report, the high court had observed that “the said protest/march was politically motivated and noted that TISS was correct in finding that Ramadas created an impression that the views expressed in the march represented the views of the institute and that this brought disrepute to the institute.”> He then approached the Supreme Court. Hearing his appeal this May 2, the two-judge bench of the top court upheld his suspension but asked its time period to be reduced and also that he be allowed to finish his PhD.

The court said though the disciplinary action taken by TISS was legally valid and supported by documentary evidence, the interest of justice would be served by allowing the scholar to resume his academic pursuits.> Also read: TISS Mumbai Serves Eviction Notices on PhD Scholars to Vacate Campus in 24 Hours > “It was in 2015 that Ramadas first enrolled with the TISS for a Master’s degree in the course Media and Cultural Studies. He was awarded a scholarship from the institute,” the LiveLaw report stated. > “In 2018, he enrolled in the integrated M.Phil.

and Ph.D. course in Development Studies. In 2023, he was awarded a National Fellowship in Scheduled Caste by the Union Ministry of Social Justice in view of his performance in the UGC-NET examination,” it said. > ‘Denying education to students is about fundamental rights’ Ramadas welcomed the reinstatement order of the Supreme Court in a Facebook post and said, “On the 366th day of legal proceedings since approaching the High Court, I am officially a student again – from Today – at the very institution that denied me education 380 days ago.”> “As we learn from people’s movements, the denial of education to any student was never about affecting just one individual- it was about the fundamental rights of countless students and the question of campus democracy in our higher education system.

Though this period has been a tough fight, taking away a significant amount of time from my education and daily life, I am glad that I could also be a small part of the resistance,” he said, expressing solidarity with students of AUD, Jamia, Jadavpur and other universities.>