Ghaziabad college chairman booked after ‘casteist slurs’ video goes viral online

The chairperson of a private college was booked for allegedly using caste-based slurs against a student who was seeking concession under SC quota.

An FIR was filed against the chairperson of a private college in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad for allegedly hurling casteist slurs at a student, who was inquiring about whether he qualifies for concession under the scheduled castes (SC) quota or not. The FIR was registered against Hari Om Sharma of Gyansthali Vidyapeeth in Ghaziabad.

Chairperson of a private college was booked for casteist slurs against student (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The complaint was filed by Mohit Jatav, a senior leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). However, the accused denied the allegations, and said this was just an attempt to malign his image.

The FIR was filed by Jatav, accompanied by zila panchayat leaders and local Dalit leaders, after a 6-minute clip of the purported conversation between Sharma and the B.Ed student went viral on social media. The identity of the student has not been revealed yet, but the police said he belongs to Bareilly, and is enrolled in the B.Ed programme at Gyanshtali Vidyapeeth college.

In the audio clip that went viral, the college chairman can be heard saying to the student that he will not get his B.Ed degree. He also threatened to “fail every SC student” and said that no person from this caste should be given admission in the college.

Further, the Sharma could purportedly be heard asking the student to paint and whitewash the college building to raise money for his education, saying that other people from his caste do the same. The college chairman continued to rebuke him even when the student said that his father is in the ICU.

Sharma asked the student why he hadn't paid his college fees, and allegedly threatened to “lock him up in Bhojpur police station”.

Jatav said in his complaint, “On Monday morning, I came across the audio clip in which Hari Om Sharma was making casteist remarks against the boy, who is from the SC community. The boy had called the college last week to find out if there was any rebate for students from the SC/ST category. A woman spoke to him initially but Sharma took the phone and started abusing him.”