MGCU Teacher Critical After Mob Lynching, Lenient Charges Slapped Against Accused

The condition of Dr Sanjay Kumar – an assistant professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the Mahatma Gandhi Central University (MGCU) in Bihar’s Motihari – who was brutally assaulted by a lynch mob on August 17, 2018, has deteriorated. Following consistent complaints of severe headache, swollen abdomen, vomiting and nausea, he has been shifted to All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in New Delhi.

Following the attack on him for writing and sharing Facebook posts critical of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee – who died on August 16 at the age of 93 – he was first rushed to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) at around 12 pm on August 17. Since he suffered severe head and abdominal injuries, he was shifted to the Department of Neurology at 3:30 pm on August 18 where no doctor allegedly attended to him till 9:30 pm on August 19. 

“Sir (Kumar) was shifted to the neurology department of the PMCH after the CT Scan showed severe head injuries, but doctors there did not attend to him for over 17 hours. Not even an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) was done there. As he was crying in pain and losing consciousness time and again, we requested doctors to begin treating him. To our utter shock, they told us such pain is common in cases of mob lynchings. Seeing the attitude of the doctors, we requested them to refer the patient to AIIMS,” MGCU Teachers’ Association Joint Secretary Mritunjay Kumar told Newsclick.

He was present with Dr Sanjay at AIIMS, where—he said—doctors are cooperative and have started treatment. “The situation continues to be critical. He falls unconscious at regular intervals. But, the doctors here are trying their best to stabilise him,” he said.

Asked about the arrests made so far, he claimed that the police have not arrested any named accused so far. One Rajiv Giri, who has been taken into custody, had surrendered himself, he added. Giri is said to be the president of the youth wing of the Motihar Janadhikar Party – a political outfit formed by Lok Sabha MP Pappu Yadav.

Rubbishing the allegation, Motihari Superintendent of Police Upendra Kumar Sharma told Newsclick, “We have apprehended one of the accused, and are trying to decipher the addresses of rest of the accused named in the FIR.”    

In his complaint to the police, Dr Sanjay has named Rahul R. Pandey, Sunny Vajpayee, Aman Bihari Vajpayee, Purushottam Mishra, Ravikesh Mishra and Rakesh Pandey, and has accused them of assaulting him.
 

Interestingly, all the named accused have been booked under lenient sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) such as wrongful confinement (Section 341) and causing hurt voluntarily (Section 323).

His complaint also records the incessant harassment and threats issued by Gyaneshwar Gautam – a journalist associated with Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar. These threats allegedly pertained to his opposition to the Vice Chancellor Arvind Kumar Agrawal – against whom the university teachers had been agitating – as well as his Facebook posts. A Facebook post he had shared recently had invited the wrath of one Jitendra Giri and Rakesh Pandey. Thus, an alleged atmosphere of intimidation and threats of violence had immediately preceded the attack.

Gautam has denied the allegation, and has claimed that he is being targetted after he began writing in favour of the vice chancellor and against a group of teachers who “just want the vice chancellor out”. He further said that Dr Sanjay’s opposition to the vice chancellor and his “indecent language against a former prime minister” made a few students angry, and they staged a protest.

“They are young students who turned violent while protesting, and slapped Sanjay Kumar. It was a violent protest but not a mob lynching,” he said.

When asked why his name has found a mention in the FIR, he replied, “Earlier, I used to write stories against the university administration based on the allegation levelled by a group of teachers. But when I was appointed as a member of the anti-ragging committee of the university, I realised that a bunch of teachers want removal of the vice chancellor for their vested interests. And therefore, I began writing stories in favour of the vice chancellor, which made them unhappy with me.”

“All the charges against me are baseless, and I will file a counter FIR against the teachers,” he added.

Gautam was contested by students’ leaders, who said that the pretext of the attack on Dr Sanjay has been cited as a Facebook post, but the real reason is the “sustained and fearless opposition” that the teachers of MGCUB have shown to the “corrupt and authoritarian” conduct of the university’s vice chancellor. 

“Like many other teachers of the university, Dr Sanjay has been actively involved in the university community’s protests that have been held for nearly a year now. The vice chancellor has been charged with a range of wrongdoings — illegal termination of permanent faculty members, quid pro quo appointments, financial embezzlement and failure of the university to make regular payments to the New Pension Scheme, violation of reservation policy in recruitment of staff, implicating faculty and students in false cases and partisan and authoritarian conduct that actively rouses public animus and hostility to the university teachers,” he said. 

“No action has been taken against the VC on any of these issues because he is close to Union Minister Radha Mohan Singh. Even the district administration is under pressure, and therefore, they are not cracking down on the perpetrators,” alleged Pradeep Kumar Yadav, general secretary of the youth wing of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

He said Dr Sanjay and the MGCU Teachers’ Association are fighting for social justice, honesty and accountability by public officials, the autonomy and transparency of higher educational institutions and the dignity and respect of teachers and students. 

“They are forced to do so as the vice chancellor and other administrators enjoy complete impunity, in violation of all norms and rules,” he alleged.

The attack is said to have taken place at around 1 pm, when Kumar was reportedly dragged from his third floor flat into the street and beaten up with rods, and his clothes were torn. The mob also allegedly tried to set him on fire and poured petrol over him. He was saved only by the intervention of the passersby.

Standing in support for Dr Sanjay, academicians have condemned the incident, and written to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar questioning his silence on the incident.

“If open intimidation and violence, if silencing of critical voices, and this sense of power and impunity enjoyed by a section is not jungle Raj, what is? Even as Dr Sanjay has named the perpetrators and those who threatened him, and the same can be ascertained from the video – no arrests have been made as we write. We are unable to fathom the delay in arresting the accused except as deliberate reluctance or complicity on part of the local administration,” wrote Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA), in a letter to the chief minister.

Questioning the slapping of lenient charges against the accused, the letter said, “The sections under which the FIR has been filed are laughably light. Sir, we urge you to see the video and decide whether the mob attacking Dr Sanjay with rods was merely engaging in wrongful restraint (Section 341) and a simple case of causing hurt voluntarily (Section 323). By booking the attackers under much lighter charges – all of which are bailable – your administration has effectively killed the prosecution case even before it has begun. What would qualify as an attempt to murder (non-bailable under section 307) in your opinion?”

It said the teachers’ fraternity is surprised at the sullen silence of the government on this murderous assault. “We can only conclude that your conscience has made peace with the lynch mob,” the JTSA alleged.

Meanwhile, the vice chancellor on August 19 closed the university sine die (indefinitely) “for the safety of students, teachers and non-teaching staff”. 

The MGCU Teachers’ Association has condemned the move, and has demanded that it must be revoked with immediate effect in the interest of academic activities. “We, the teachers of Mahatma Gandhi Central University, condemn it. We are worried about the career of the students. We are worried about the educational environment of the university. We demand that the university should be opened immediately. We urge the President of India and the MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) to give direction to the vice chancellor to open the university. This is once again a criminal conspiracy by the vice chancellor to make the situation abnormal,” said Mirtunjay on behalf of the association.