NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Tuesday detained former Delhi University professor Dr Ritu Singh protesting over alleged caste discrimination meted out to her by the Daulat Ram college principal, and scores of her supporters.
They were detained when hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in solidarity with Dr Singh. A large number of personnel were deployed in the North Campus of the University of Delhi.
Tuesday was the 163rd day of her protest. She has been demanding the removal of Daulat Ram college’s principal, Dr. Savita Roy, over caste-based discrimination and her subsequent removal from the position of assistant professor.
Addressing citizens through X (formerly Twitter), Singh said, “This protest will not stop until the police arrest the principal...that is how the rules and regulations under the constitution function.”
She alleged that some demonstrators were singled out and taken to Jaffarpur Kalan police station, which is far from Maurice Nagar police station where others were detained.
“We were made to stand in a line to be counted while being verbally abused,” a fellow protestor who was detainment alleged. “It was dehumanising. I do not think a protest where the majority is from the upper caste will face such abuse,” the protestor added.
‘Removed within a year’
Singh. the ad-hoc Psychology professor, joined the Daulat Ram college in 2019 but was removed within a year and her contract was not renewed. In August 2020, when Singh went to join the college, she was not given the joining letter. After she took the matter to the HC, the principal submitted a letter, which was signed by 35 students expressing their dissatisfaction with Singh’s teaching methods.