Allahabad High Court orders probe into caste bias at NLU Prayagraj

The Allahabad High Court has ordered the formation of two separate committees to investigate allegations of caste-based discrimination and humiliation at Dr. Rajendra Prasad National Law University (RPNLU) in Prayagraj.

Following a petition by a PhD scholar and a fifth-semester law student, Justice Vinod Diwakar directed the university's Vice-Chancellor to form an independent committee to conduct a masked re-evaluation of the student's answer sheets. This process aims to determine if academic results were unfairly impacted by caste. Additionally, the court appointed Judge Archana Singh-I and Special Chief Judicial Magistrate Arun Kumar Yadav to conduct an inquiry into whether students from Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes were subjected to discrimination by the Head of the Department of Law and hostel warden, Dr. Deepak Sharma.

As part of the order, Dr. Sharma is to be relieved of all administrative responsibilities until the inquiry is complete. The court emphasized that the investigation must be impartial and protect the identity of any students providing testimony. The inquiry reports are to be submitted in a sealed cover.