Indian Institute of Mass Communication became the latest in the array of educational institutions which curbed the right to dissent and was slowly being saffronised. The premier media institute suspended a student for writing an aricle criticising institution’s decision to sack a faculty and “provoking students” to create unrest in the campus.
Rohin Kumar, a student of Hindi Journalism, was suspended with immediate effect pending proceedings of the institute’s disciplinary committee.
“It has been noticed that he has been making wild allegations against the Institute through his writings in online media on a matter which is subjudice and provoking students to create unrest in the campus and thereby vitiating the academic atmosphere,” the institute said in a notice.
The suspension notice came days after the student questioned the decision of the institute to sack academic associate Narendra Singh Rao in an article wrote in the website ‘News Laundry’.
In his article, Kumar alleged that Narendra Singh Rao was abruptly terminated from the institute for supporting dalit workers, who were illegally sacked by the institute, and questioning the merit of the newly appointed Advertisement and Public Relations Course Director Surbhi Dahiya.
“For me, it’s been only a while in IIMC but I have been writing in online media for long. I wrote taking all facts into consideration and stuck to basics of reporting. I do not know what warranted this extreme action. Even the guards have been given my pictures so that they can stop me from entering the campus,” Kumar was quoted by multiple media as saying.
Earlier in 2016, IIMC Associate Professor Amit Sengupta was transferred to Dhenkanal campus for allegedly supporting the student protest over Rohith Vemula’s suicide, FTII and JNU issues,
Sengupta, in protest against the decision, resigned from the institute.
