HYDERABAD: A ‘systemic failure’ of the university forced a PhD scholar to commit suicide last month, a probe team of the University of Hyderabad said in its report, highlighting for the first time how genuine worries of students are ignored by varsity authorities.

The findings come after seven suicides that rocked the university in the last five years, with allegations of discrimination against students doing rounds.

M Venkatesh, a dalit PhD scholar from Advanced Centre for Research in High Energy Materials (ACRHEM) in the campus consumed poison on November 24 after his pleas for a guide and doctoral committee went unheard by the varsity for months.

Following a furore over his death, a six-member probe committee was formed, which found “glaring instances of insensitivity and the lack of diligence, especially in attending to students who come from marginalized sections.”

After Venkatesh’s death, his family and friends alleged how repeated requests to allot him a guide were ignored, while two other colleagues managed to get guides.

The probe team said authorities at ACRHEM and the varsity administration “failed to attend to the case of M Venkatesh”.

“The ‘system’ certainly has failed Mr M Venkatesh,” the report said, while saying that compensation should be paid to the family of Venkatesh immediately. The committee was headed by Prof V Krishna from Department of Hindi.

The report revealed that lack of a supervisor drove Venkatesh to his death.

The committee in its report has recommended reforms and measures to make the campus a more inclusive and rewarding experience for students from these communities.

From the time SP Tiwari, his in-charge supervisor and former director of the centre retired, Venkatesh had approached three faculty members requesting them to take him as their student, but none obliged, the report said.

While one associate faculty member from the School of Chemistry agreed to supervise, he had ordered Venkatesh that he would have to start his research from scratch, although he had worked on it for three years.

“It is indeed deplorable that M Venkatesh has been pushed to seek out various teachers in a desperate effort to continue with his research work, when it was actually the bounding duty of the university and of ACRHEM in particular to have done so,” the report read.

While two other research scholars who were working under the supervision of the former director who retired were assigned supervisors later on, ACHREM failed to allot Venkatesh a guide, officials said.

The report said as per Academic Council meeting held on 16, November, 2011, a faculty member who has less than three years to retire should not take research scholars under their fold, a rule which was flouted in case of Venkatesh.

The report said Venkatesh should have been allotted a permanent supervisor within three months of his joining, but it did not happen.

Venkatesh’s doctoral committee had only his guide as the member, which was another administrative lapse, the probe team says. The committee is supposed to have three members.

The committee’s findings come at a time when students and some faculty members of the university have set up a solidarity committee for justice to students from marginalized communities who had committed suicide in UoH.

Damning report

‘Systemic failure’ of UoH forced PhD scholar M Venkatesh to commit suicide on November 24.

Six-member probe panel formed to probe suicides on the campus found “glaring instances of insensitivity and lack of diligence, especially in attending to students who come from marginalized sections”.

Panel has recommended reforms and measures to make the campus a more inclusive and rewarding experience for students from marginalized communities.