One Medical Report: Two Verdicts!

HYDERABAD: The University of Hyderabad’s (UoH) proctorial board which expelled five Dalit scholars for allegedly assaulting ABVP leader Susheel Kumar, in its initial probe held none of the ASA members guilty as the medical report given by Archana Hospital did not find a reason to believe that injuries on Susheel were caused by an assault. Surprisingly, the same board used the same medical report to revise its verdict and punish them. There was no second medical report which prompted the proctorial board to change its mind and punish the Dalit scholars.

Even the university administration has admitted that the decision to expel them was not based entirely on the medical evidence.

Vice-chancellor P.Appa Rao told Express that the evidence that proctorial board considered to hold the ASA members guilty included only a ‘partial medical evidence’. Reports of a huge number of ASA activists surrounding Susheel on the night of the reported attack could be another aspect that convinced the proctorial board, Appa Rao said.

Leaving more scope for doubts on the way it probed the case, the proctorial board has not sought any medical report on Susheel’ health condition from the university’s health centre. According to the chief medical officer Dr Ravinder Kumar, the university’s protocol mandates the health centre’s doctors to attend to any medical emergency that takes place on the campus.

But the health centre has no role in the entire episode. Ravinder said, “Susheel did not visit the health centre after the attack. Instead, he went to a private hospital on his own. Therefore, the health centre does not have any official record of Susheel’s health condition after the incident.”

Senior doctor at the health centre, Dr Anupama Rao, who accompanied the then vice-chancellor RP Sharma, during their visit to Susheel on August 5 and 8 at Archana Hospital, said, “My role was confined to assisting the proctorial board to understand Susheel’s health status. I have not given any report to certify whether his injuries were truly caused by an assault.”

In fact, Archana Hospital’s report, which was one of the major evidences for the proctorial board, said that he was operated upon for acute appendicitis on August 7 and not for stomach injuries caused by assault. Protesting students too alleged that the proctorial board’s enquiry did not include the deposition of expelled scholars.

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