Six students from Bengaluru’s Jain University Centre for Management Studies have been suspended in connection with a skit that allegedly made offensive remarks about Dalits and Bhimrao Ambedkar, The Indian Express reported on Saturday.
An official from the university told the newspaper that a disciplinary committee has also been formed to investigate the matter.
The skit was staged by a group called The Delroys Boys during a youth festival in the college on February 6, according to The Hindu. Its video has been widely shared on social media, drawing condemnation from Dalit organisations and activists.
A police complaint was also filed against the group in Maharashtra’s Nanded by Aakshay Bansode, a state member of Vanchit Bahujan Yuva Aaghadi.
“The skit is highly casteist and performed with serious ill motives and to intentionally insult and humiliate the community and people belonging to it,” Bansode said in his complaint, according to The Indian Express. “Moreover, the derogatory and defamatory statement about Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar is also highly offensive at large and showcases the intention of the performers and the university authorities...”
On its part, the university authorities said that an “unconditional apology” has been tendered.
“The skit’s intention was to highlight the anti-caste system in the country,” an identified university official said, according to the newspaper. “However, the students went a little overboard in their presentation.”
In a statement, The Delroys Boys issued an apology for the skit but added that it had been misinterpreted.
“The skit was aimed to bring attention to the challenges faced by the marginalised communities, using humour as a tool to shed light on these hardships,” the group claimed.
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