Madras Uni May Expel Student for Objecting Attack on French Pupil

University officials told the Tanzanian Embassy that it is ‘not tenable’ for Bob Mahona to continue at the varsity.

Madras University has written to the Tanzanian embassy about a student from that country who participated in a protest against the institution, saying it is ‘not tenable’ for the student to continue his studies in Chennai.

Bob Mahona had participated in the protest against the manhandling by university faculty of his classmate Jonas Anton Pulendrarasa, a French national, in a lecture on ‘Managing disaster: A case study of Chennai Floods 2015’ for raising questions about the Government’s working during floods. 

University registrar David P Jawahar said that Mahona had written to the embassy that he had been beaten up so the authorities have to give an explanation to them.

The embassy has been given an explanation. We have also proposed that it is not tenable to have him continue in the university. Since this boy had written to the embassy saying he had been beaten up, we had to provide all details. The embassy had asked if he was focussed on academics. We had to tell them that he was not paying attention to academics. In an earlier instance, a girl student had filed a police complaint against him for preventing her from attending classes. A condition for overseas students is that they should not indulge in local politics or demonstrations. We have sent photos of the boy participating in protests. 

David P. Jawahar, University registrar (to The Hindu)

University students held a protest on Thursday against shutting down of the hostels and seeking justice for Jonas.