Fourteen students of the Delhi-based Vardhman Mahavir Medical College have been learning more about law than medicine. Even after winning a court battle, they are likely to lose one year of studies. The reason: caste bias.

The students, of SC/ST and OBC categories, had failed in the physiology paper in their first year of MBBS – they were not able to pass the subject after multiple attempts. However, they maintained that their results had less to do with their answer sheets and more with their caste background.

They accused the head of the department, Dr Shobha Das, of caste bias and appealed to the college authorities but to no avail. Finally, they moved the Delhi high court in December 2010, which in an interim relief allowed them to attend classes for the second year. (Dr Das was not available for her comments.)

After court's intevention the students reappeared for the exams in July 2011, and it was a perfect coincidence that 14 of the original 15 students cleared the paper in this attempt.

However, their troubles didn’t end there. Now they have nearly completed their second year, but the college principal, Dr V K Sharma, is adamant not to let them appear for the second-year exams in October. 

“There is no such court order. They have to repeat the year,” Sharma told Governance Now.

For the record, the court order of September 14 says, “We direct the university that the students who have been successful, shall be admitted to the second year from the date of their attendance and the benefit of attendance as recorded shall ensure to their benefit.”

Tushar, one of the 14 students, says, “Our principal is extremely inactive, insensitive and inaccessible for all of us.”

Yash, another ‘victim’, adds that the vice chancellor (VC) D K Bandyopadhyay of the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, which the college is a part of has also not been of any help. “The VC would make us wait for hours and then tell us to come and see him next time. This happened several times. He would ask us to call him and then never take our calls. Nobody in his absence ever took notice of our problem and offered any help to us. We are students of the university but we were never able to have a word with any authority.”

Mohit says, “The professors embarrass us by saying ‘These kids don’t study and then file cases in the court and spoil the name of the college and the professors.’ Some even tell us, ‘You are allowed to sit for the lectures but we will not allow you to sit for the exams.’ We are repeatedly told, ‘Even if you think you will be able to pass in the first year, we will not let you pass the second year.’ ”

(The names of the students have been changed to protect their identity.)