KASARGOD: Avla Ramu -- who was expelled from the Central University of Kerala for a Facebook post -- is perhaps in the last leg of his long fight for justice and his right to education, provided the varsity showed "leniency".
The High Court of Kerala has asked the Executive Council of Central University to hear Ramu out and take a decision "with a lenient view" within two months.
Ramu, a PG student of international relations and political science, has been legally fighting first his suspension and then expulsion since March 2019. During these months, his batch mates completed their course in April 2019.
After one year and a half and three judges, who heard the case, the high court has put the ball back in the university's court to make a decision.
In the judgment, judge P V Asha does not ask the university to reinstate the student, but wrote: "... if the petitioner tenders apology, the Executive Council shall consider the same having due regard to the young age, the future, and career of the petitioner".
The judge also wrote: "It is made clear the official/ authority which took the decision to remove him from the rolls shall not be part of the Executive Council which to consider his appeal".
'The case reeks of vendetta'
After the Pulwama attack on February 14, 2019, Ramu, a fourth-semester student, posted a question on his Facebook asking who were the martyrs in the attack, the suicide bomber, or the slain CRPF soldiers. “Who is martyr. Is he the one or the 42,” he wrote with hashtags #Pulwama42or1 #standwithpeople.
Ramu said he posed the question because the suicide bomber's father had called him a martyr.
The BJP's Udma general secretary Baburaj N filed a complaint with Bekal Police, accusing Ramu of sedition. A case of sedition was registered in February 2019.
The university immediately suspended Ramu "pending enquiry".
But there was no enquiry and Ramu moved the high court in March seeking quashing of the suspension because the final semester examination was approaching.
Though the high court asked the university whether an enquiry was conducted before suspending him, Ramu was not given any relief.
On June 3, after the final semester examination, an enquiry committee held a sitting.
Ramu never got the report of the committee.
Meanwhile, after 10 months of investigation, the Bekal police filed their closure report in December 2019. The report said BJP leader Baburaj had misrepresented facts and the complaint was filed because of political rivalry. Ramu, a native of Telangana, was not a member of any students' organisation but ran Marx-Ambedkar Study Circle, which organised a few discussions. He was the only member of the circle.
On January 17, when the case came up for hearing in the high court, the judge asked the university about the status of the enquiry, said Sandhya Raju, who represented Ramu in the court.
That evening, the university expelled Ramu and produced the expulsion order in court on January 18. "It reeked of a vendetta by the university as the expulsion came after the police closed the case," she said.
Ramu moved the high court again, this time to challenge the expulsion.
Now, the high court has put the ball back in the university's court. "After I got the court order, I have approached the university again with an appeal to quash my expulsion. I hope the university allows me to complete my course," Ramu said.