Playing with immunity: Mired in illegalities, South Asian University harassed students and international staff as Hindu right-wing forces enjoyed free pass
The assault on a woman student in South Asia's only international varsity over serving of non-vegetarian food on campus, and its uncanny fallout, reveals a systematic flouting of norms and procedures
Sushovan Patnaik
Published on: 17 April 2025, 09:58 am
THE COMMON MESS in South Asian University, established in 2010 as a joint initiative of eight SAARC nations, is shaped like a large capital letter ‘L’.
Not unlike the agitated atmosphere outside, food was an emotive issue on campus leading up to the day of Mahashivratri, to commemorate the Hindu god Shiva. But catering to its broadly multinational and multifaith student population, the mess staff had set up both vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals.
Overseeing the management was Yashada Sawant, a master’s student in Sociology and the elected mess secretary. Some had already started their meals when Ratan Singh, a PhD student in Computer Science, walked in. Donning a tilak on his forehead, Singh was accompanied by ten other men, allegedly affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Hindu right-wing paramilitary body, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The day before, one Hindu student had warned on the campus WhatsApp group that there should not be an inkling of non-vegeterian food on campus. SAU does not have a student union - unlike other public colleges in the city, political parties do not have a formalised presence on campus. Yet, ABVP has allegedly granted support to a group of sympathetic students.
“Ratan Singh touched me inappropriately,” Yashada told me in March, “One guy held both of my hands. Ratan Singh punched me in my face. I was screaming at them to stop.”
Upset at the sight of the fish curry, Singh called for the mess manager. The manager, I was told, wanted no involvement - he was only a worker and the mess was managed by students exclusively. Singh then made the mess manager call the Dean of Students, Navnit Jha. In photographs on public fora, Jha has been seen huddling with Singh and others in the group who have claimed association with the ABVP. But the ring would not go through. Singh’s patience had run thin, and that is about when the instruction came that his affiliates had been waiting for. “Throw the fish curry!”, Singh ordered.
Yanking Yashada aside, the men attempted to pick up the tin-plated container filled with food. Within moments, chaos had ensued. Sudeepto Das, a student from Bangladesh pursuing his PhD in Economics who came to Yashada’s defence was beaten up. In a video that went viral on social media, Yashada could be seen being brutally assaulted, her hair being pulled by several men, as Singh continues to flank his fists at her. A guard is seen attempting to pull Singh away.
“Ratan Singh touched me inappropriately,” Yashada told me in March, “One guy held both of my hands. Ratan Singh punched me in my face. I was screaming at them to stop.”
The audacity had not come arbitrarily. For several months, Yashada had pressed university authorities to take action against Singh for verbally abusing and sexually harassing her on at least two other occasions. The tussles had often started off from political disagreements around Hindu majoritarian imposition in the international university. Email threads and documents available with us indicate that the first written complaint against Singh had been sent to the Proctor, Kapil Sharma, and subsequently forwarded to the University Complaints Committee (‘UCC’), the institute’s sexual harassment redressal body as early as April 2024. Yet, on at least three separate occasions, the university either did not act at all, or referred Yashada from one redressal body to another - in both instances, no actions had been conclusively taken against Singh.
