Students, faculty at Bengaluru institutions circulate dissent letters over Hathras gangrape

Students, alumni, and university faculty in the city expressed shock and anger over the Hathras gangrape, especially the lethargic government response that some describe as “foot-dragging” or deliberate obfuscation.

On Sunday, abrupt calls for signatures began to circulate on social media asking for students and alumni of Mount Carmel College (MCC). Simultaneously, at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), an open letter swept through the institute community, lambasting the government’s handling of the case.

The Mount Carmel College letter, which was aimed at alumni, had accrued over 100 signatures by 8 pm on Sunday night. “The numbers are not necessarily high, but as the signatures and the letter are to be made public online, every name and signature carries weight,” explained an alumnus, Shradda, 27, who helped organise the letter.

While India has seen a spate of high-profile protests aimed at pressuring the government to enact reforms to tackle such crimes, the organisers of the MCC letter said that the Hathras rape defers markedly from the others.

“This was a crime coloured by caste and caste impunity has a certain character in this country. Criminal acts take place on women’s bodies. Why nothing changes is because we don’t question caste in the first place,” Shradda said.

The viewpoint was shared by Professor Hema Swaminathan of IIM-B, who, along with Professor Dahlia Mani, independently drafted another letter, which not only demanded justice for the victim, but also states that injustice harms society overall.

“The letter was driven by a sense of outrage over what happened. It is not just about women’s safety; you are fighting a caste war that uses women’s bodies. The rape represents a toxic mix of patriarchy and communalism,” Hema, adding the letter and signatures are independent of the institute.

The letter had garnered 187 signatures by when it was closed on Sunday evening. “This is a substantive number for the IIM-B community,” Hema pointed out. “Earlier letters of dissent, whether they were about the Citizens Amendment Act or other issues, had often triggered disagreements from the IIM-B community. Not so in this matter.”

Cynthia Stephen, an independent researcher, who is leading some of the protests, said that the government’s lack of will to address the case belies the Modi administration’s efforts to clamp down on dissent.

“By not taking action against the perpetrators of this crime and by purposely downplaying the incident, this government has shown that it will not tolerate voices of dissensions,” she said.