Finally, Deepa emerged victorious in her fight against casteism in academia

Thiruvananthauram: Research student at MG University, Deepa Mohanan had gone on an 11-day strike for her rights to study without hindrance. Her demands were met after two rounds of hospitalisation. On November 9, she ended her strike.

Deepa's research had been delayed by five years due to the interference of Professor Nandakumar Kalarickal. Her first demand was that he should be removed from the Inter-University Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IIUCNN). The demand was initially denied but the authorities had to budge at the end.

The PhD student is anaemic and her haemoglobin level dropped to 7.3 during the strike. Being a heart patient, her ECG also had variations. Deepa told The News Minute that the first thing she did after ending the strike took care of her health. She rested, ate, and took medicines.

She comes from the Malayan community, a Scheduled Caste in the Malabar region, and grew up in a colony inhabited by the Paniya Tribe, a scheduled tribe. She is the first person in her colony to study beyond class 10.

Nandakumar had denied Deepa a seat in his lab, used casteist slurs against her, locked her in a lab, and denied approving her M.Phil thesis without reason. He also refused to let her work in the lab for no reason. She alleged that her complaints to the university against him were not paid attention to as he has political support. Her guide also discouraged her from filing a police complaint.

She said that during the first round of discussions, the university said they will arrange the facilities for her to continue research as a favour.

Deepa refused to give up on her demand to remove Nandakumar from the institute. She received support from Bhim Army Kerala and other Dalit organisations. Political parties like Congress, the RMP, SDPI, and the CPI reached out to her. Her demands were met after the second round of discussions, reported The News Minute.