Nearly a decade after the death of Rohith Vemula and four years after the death of Payal Tadvi, the Supreme Court has moved to embed their mothers’ voices in the country’s regulatory framework against campus discrimination.On Monday, a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to incorporate suggestions submitted by Radhika Vemula (Rohit’s mother) and Abeda Salim Tadvi (Payal’s mother) while finalising its draft regulations to curb caste-based harassment, ragging, sexual abuse, and discrimination rooted in gender, disability, or other identities.The two mothers had jointly filed a PIL in 2019, seeking institutional safeguards after their children—Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University, and Tadvi, an Adivasi medical student in Mumbai—died by suicide allegedly following caste humiliation. In July 2023, the apex court sought UGC’s response. By March 2024, the Centre informed the court that the UGC had framed draft norms. In April, the court permitted UGC to proceed with finalising the regulations while allowing stakeholders, including the petitioners, to send written suggestions. The court on Monday said these suggestions—centred on accountability structures, confidential complaint cells, time-bound redressal, mental health support, and penalties for institutional negligence—must be “substantively considered” before the final rules are notified. The UGC has been given eight weeks to incorporate them.
Key suggestions for UGC to factor in
The petitioners want the new UGC rules to move beyond platitudes and hard-wire accountability, dignity, and equal opportunity into everyday campus practice. Their submissions outline specific, enforceable safeguards spanning prevention, redress, transparency, and penalties.
- Blanket ban on discriminatory practices: A clear prohibition of all known forms of discrimination, with defined disciplinary consequences for violators.
- Non-segregation in academics and housing: No allocation of hostels, classrooms, practical batches, or labs based on caste, community, entrance rank, or academic performance if it results in segregation.
- Scholarship disbursal transparency: Digitise and track the entire scholarship pipeline; prevent institutions from harassing students over government delays and enable complaint tracking.
- Grievance redressal with representation: Set up committees with at least 50% SC/ST/OBC members and a Chair from these communities; provide an appeal route to the National Commissions for SCs/STs.
- Protection of complainants: Apply a witness-protection style framework to bar intimidation, humiliation, or retaliation; permit complainants to continue studies without harassment.
- Personal liability for negligence: Fix individual accountability on staff, including institutional heads, for failure to act on discrimination or for enabling hostile environments.
- Targeted mental-health counselling: Mandate trained counsellors equipped to support students from marginalised communities and trauma-informed redress.
- Accreditation and social audits: Require NAAC to include anti-discrimination compliance metrics; conduct periodic social audits and publish anonymised data by gender and social group.
- Penalties for non-compliance: Empower UGC to withdraw grants, affiliations, and accreditations where institutions fail to comply.
- Equitable learning support: Run bridge courses and sustained academic support programmes for students from marginalised sections.
