Gurugram: Is this a case of a missing person or a young student choosing to walk away? The story of a former Ashoka University student has two conflicting narratives: one of indoctrination and exploitation by a sex-change racket, the other of escape and self-determination.
The parents, both academics themselves, have not seen their child in over two-and-a-half years. They say the person went missing. They want the anti-terror probe agency National Investigation Agency to investigate the university and some of its staff.
A spokesperson for Ashoka University said the person ceased to be its student in May 2023, and its faculty and staff have no involvement in the matter.
The parents, meanwhile, appeared before the Haryana State Commission for Women with their plea. They have named a professor, a researcher, a student activist, and, in their words, a “chain” of people involved in what they describe as a “sex-change racket”.
But there is another set of documents in the case that tells a sharply different story, in the person’s own words.
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The night the ex-student left
On 24 October 2023, they left home in Haryana’s Rohtak. The person was 22 years old and a graduate of Ashoka University. By their own account, the person had been planning this for some time.
On the day the person left Rohtak, the former Ashoka University student sent an email to the Rohtak Police. They also wrote a letter to the Kundli thana, got it stamped by them, and also sent a handwritten letter to the Rohtak Police, all informing authorities the person was leaving out of own free will, exercising the constitutional right as an adult to reside at a place of choice.
The person requested that their address be kept confidential from parents.
Four days later, on 28 October 2023, they recorded a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC before a magistrate in Rohtak.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), now replaced by Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), a statement under Section 164 is a formal statement or confession recorded by a Magistrate rather than a police officer.
Despite all this, the person wrote in complaints to the police that the Rohtak Police continued calling their friends repeatedly. The father, the former student said, was still trying to harass them and their friends. They feared for life and liberty and sought police protection.
The complaint was filed with the Station House Officer of the Kundli Police Station on 28 October 2023. Another complaint was filed on 6 November that year with a police station whose name was not shared with ThePrint, ostensibly to hide the place of their residence.
What the parents say
The parents, who have chosen to go public, tell a very different story, though.
In response to queries, they told ThePrint that their child was a bright student, scoring 96 per cent in Class XII from a premier school. The student was then admitted to Ashoka University for a BA programme.
On 24 October 2023, the parents said, they found their child missing and lodged a missing persons report the same day.
Based on call records, they claimed, police traced their child’s location to the residence of a university staff member. But by the time police arrived, they alleged, the university administration had tipped off the staff member, and the person had already left.
Four days later, when the person appeared before a court, they were accompanied, the parents say, by two women “associated” with Ashoka University who work in the laboratory of Dr Bittu Kaveri Rajaraman, an associate professor of biology and psychology at the university.
The parents said they learnt of this court appearance only later.
They said that subsequently they found, in their home, a certificate issued by Ashoka University in a name other than the one they had given their child, a name, they said, was not a Hindu name.
They also said they found from bank records that money had been transferred from their child’s account to that of another student’s, whom they allege collects funds for gender transition procedures.
“We feared that at Ashoka University, our daughter was exploited by the faculty led by Dr Bittu Kaveri,” the press note states.
The parents have called for a probe by the NIA into Ashoka University, Dr Bittu Kaveri Rajaraman, and several others, including students, researchers, activists, and lawyers, who they claim form a network involved in what they describe as “physical and mental exploitation of young people”.
Who is Dr Bittu Kaveri Rajaraman
At the centre of the parents’ allegations is Dr Bittu Kaveri Rajaraman, an associate professor of biology and psychology at Ashoka University. Dr Rajaraman is a transgender academic and activist, widely known in academic and LGBTQ+ circles.
Information available online about Prof Bittu Kaveri shows that he is a genderqueer trans man who believes that the annihilation of caste, class, ableism, and gender is necessary for queer and trans liberation.
The parents allege that the two individuals who allegedly accompanied the former student to the court worked in Dr Rajaraman’s laboratory, and that Dr Rajaraman, at a university event, publicly addressed the stundetn by the name on the certificate found at their home, a recording of which, they say, is available on YouTube.
They have also alleged that Dr Rajaraman had once claimed that when the student joined Ashoka University, they were the only transgender person there, and that now there are over 80 such students, a statement the parents characterise as evidence of “indoctrination of young people”.
Neither Dr Rajaraman nor the individuals named by the parents have, as of this report, issued any public response to these specific allegations.
The Print reached Dr Rajaraman through email and WhatsApp messages. But, she didn’t respond.
What Delhi HC found
Even as the parents were filing complaints with the Haryana women’s panel, their child had already approached the Delhi High Court.
In an order dated 27 May 2024, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the Delhi High Court recorded that the petitioner appeared in person and interacted with the court in the presence of their counsel.
The petitioner told the court that they were adult, aged about 22 years, and wanted to choose their own way of life. They stated clearly that they did not wish to interact with their family, including the parents and grandfather.
Significantly, the court also separately interacted with the parents and the grandfather, who stated before the court that they had no intention of communicating with the child against their wishes or interfering in their life.
A subsequent order, dated 11 July 2024, passed by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, records that police protection had already been granted to the person since November 2023, and that they had since shifted to rented premises.
The petition was disposed of, with a liberty granted to the petitioner to approach the court afresh if they shifted address and again faced a threat.
The court, in other words, had heard the person, verified their presence, and provided legal protection, not once, but across multiple hearings spanning several months.
The women’s commission hearing
Meanwhile, the case reached the Haryana State Commission for Women, where it took a dramatic turn earlier this week.
Ashoka University’s registrar, summoned for a hearing, reportedly did not answer a single question before the panel. Women’s Commission chairperson Renu Bhatia told journalists that the commission would recommend to the state government that the case be handed over to the CBI.
“It is a sensitive issue. It is about the future of our daughters,” she said.
A spokesperson for Ashoka University said, “As per official records, the student pursued undergraduate studies at Ashoka University from August 2019 till May 2023. She left her home in October 2023 to stay independently. She approached the Delhi High Court and the court granted her permission to stay independently at a place of her choice.
“She ceased to be an Ashoka University student in May 2023 and we have no knowledge of her current whereabouts. The university and its faculty and staff have no involvement in this matter,” the spokesperson said.
But what surprised the commission chairperson most was the appearance of a lawyer who claimed to represent the person, even though the commission had not issued any summons.
“We don’t even have her address. A lawyer appeared on her behalf without us having summoned her. Where did this lawyer come from for someone who has been untraceable for two and a half years?” Bhatia said.
The lawyer reportedly told the commission her client was willing to appear via video call.
The commission has said it will also look into how many students may have left the university and how many may have undergone gender transition.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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