The Kerala High Court has restrained the police from arresting C.N. Vijayakumari, Head of the Sanskrit Department and Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Kerala University, who has been booked by the Thiruvananthapuram City police under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly making casteist remarks against a research scholar.
Ms. Vijayakumari contended that during the open defence of Vipin Vijayan, a PhD scholar on October 15, she in discharge of her official duties intervened to ensure transparency when the candidate’s associates disrupted proceedings and excluded participants.
Mr. Vijayan, who is a SFI supporter, and his associates intimidated, abused, and coerced her to approve a thesis that was found to contain serious academic defects. On her refusal, a false and motivated complaint was lodged against her, leading to the registration of the present crime.
She alleged that the complaint was fabricated and politically motivated, intended to pressurise her into certifying an invalid thesis.
The candidate performed unsatisfactorily and was unable to answer even the basic and fundamental questions posed by the audience, and the thesis presented by him was found to contain several methodological, factual, and conceptual errors. When the scholar failed to respond appropriately, one of his associates operating the online meeting platform began removing participants who raised questions and muting others who attempted to engage in discussion.
Observing it, the petitioner, in her capacity as Chairperson of the session, directed Mr. Vijayan and his associate to ensure that all participants were admitted to the session and that no one was excluded or muted arbitrarily to maintain transparency and uphold academic sanctity of the open-defence proceedings, Ms. Vijayakumari said.
The court posted the matter for hearing on November 19.
According to the complaint by Mr. Vijayan, Ms. Vijayakumari refused to sign his thesis after his open defence and made derogatory remarks when he approached her again to complete the PhD process.
Published – November 10, 2025 08:28 pm IST
