Due Process Denied: The Buck Stops with Modi

The SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was created to protect people from real harm and discrimination. When a law is enforced without balance or strong checks, it can be misused — and that misuse damages trust in the system meant to deliver justice. In this case, the anti-Brahmin and anti-“upper caste” (UC) narrative has morphed into much more than a verbal narrative; it is now causing actual physical harm to UC persons.

A clear example often discussed is the Ruchi Tiwari case. Recently, during a pro-University Grants Commission Rules demonstration at the University of Delhi (North Campus), journalist and YouTuber Ruchi Tiwari, who had gone to cover the event, was violently attacked by a large group of leftist students. Tiwari has stated that the mob singled her out because she is Brahmin, physically grabbed her, pulled at her clothes, and threatened to parade her naked, saying sexually threatening things — all because of her caste identity. Multiple cameras captured all this. She states leftist student union women whispered rape threats in her ear and that she nearly lost consciousness while police stood mute, and refused to intervene immediately. An FIR has been registered as the police investigate the clashes that day. However, who is responsible?

On university campuses, this pattern repeats. Administrators rush to protect themselves instead of the truth. UC students, professors, administrators, and people in general stay silent not because they are wrong, but because the cost of speaking is too high. This environment rewards outrage, not justice. The University Grants Commission must be held responsible. As the top body overseeing higher education, it should ensure clear rules, fair investigations, and protection for all students and faculty. Instead, it has allowed confusion and panic to rule campuses while UC hatred turns into acts of violence. Gone are the days when such incidents would be swept under the carpet. This is the age of social media, and videos are going viral; perpetrators’ faces are visible, so will justice be served?

UGC is responsible, so is law enforcement, so is campus police, and administrators, but the buck stops with Narendra Modi. His government controls education policy and funding. If universities are becoming places of fear instead of learning, that is a failure of leadership. India does not need discriminatory laws against the Brahmin bogeyman. It needs decolonized institutions. Justice should protect the vulnerable (in this case, the UC) and respect due process. Will Tiwari receive justice? The system already showed she had no right to due process, given that she is a Brahmin.