Achtung: Jumping Inst wall == Murder

This is the question asked by few about the incidence that took place last week in a premier research institute in India. One small incidence took an ugly turn mainly becos of mis-communication and the resulting question of authority. I am gonna post few of the mail exchanges that took place.

I am re-producing the mails for their high amusement quotient.

These mails are ADDRESSED to me and there were no non-disclosure agreement attached to the mail. And hence, I assume that I have the right to post them. If some one thinks otherwise, please drop in a line and I will promptly remove the same.

I might have removed/changed certain names to safeguard the privacy of the concerned. Between, let me make declaration. I am one of the accomplice for the crime and punished accordingly. So, I might be giving my side of the story only. Hey, wait a minute, thats what exactly happened, they never wanted to listen to our side of the story and nobody even asked me what happened. Anyways, these are the only mails I got and I dont know what happened behind the walls. So, I am sharing only those I have with me. And, in the following mail, where ever you see a YYY thats ME . . .

Here is the first message . . . .

Dear All,
     I am writing this email to inform you about a very disturbing
experience, me, xxx and YYY had today. Last night at around 12, me,
YYY and XXX were returning from city after dinner and I instead of
coming through the Sreeshilam gate, just climbed the wall. It was an
innocent act done in good humour. But suddenly the security guard who was
present started demanding explanation in an extremely rude manner and
refused to open the gate for XXX and YYY to take the bike in. In
fact he told them now why don't they jump into INST with the bike instead
of
entering through the gate. Then he called his supervisor who
threatened us that they will complain against us to Mr. Nambiar. We
simply kept our head cool and instead of carrying on the argument, left
the place.
   In the morning, three of us were called to Mr. Nambiar's office when we
were having breakfast at the canteen. On arriving, we saw Dr. ZZZZ and
XYXY Madam were also present. The first thing Mr. Nambiar inquired whether 'I
am a student in INST or I am here to jump over walls' such that jumping
wall is a serious crime for the students. We have been also told that,
   1. No student under any circumstances, should jump the wall, since
according to Mr. Nambiar it is a serious offense.
   2. We have been also told, that today we have done a criminal act by
jumping the wall and if they are liberal to it, next day we might
commit a much more serious crime, say for example murder. (thats what they
mentioned explicitly.)
   3. I have been asked to record this incident in paper and provide them
a written apology for CLIMBING A WALL.
   4. Even after explicitly saying I am sorry and asked them to end the
matter, they refused to do so and what continued to bother them was such
innocent spontaneous acts may lead to serious crimes.
   5. During the conversation, we have been accused that we might have
indulged in drug addiction and other illegal activities in our hostel.
This is VERY SERIOUS allegation and before saying anything like this they
must provide some proof.
   6. YYY, who is a visitor in INST from Indian Inst, was threatened
that he will be thrown out of INST, anytime without any reason for
allegedly supporting me.

It seems to us, that this is a really insignificant issue for the head of
the administration to be concerned and there is nothing to apologize from
our part after the meeting. The way we have been treated is just like
criminals in  a police interrogation. I was very hurt when I asked them
whether this act makes me a criminal. Their answer was "YES". Being in
INST we always felt a free and friendly atmosphere, where one pursue the
quest for knowledge in a liberal environment. But this kind of
maltreatment, because of insignificant incidents, present us a view that
we are like prisoners. I appeal to all the responsible academic
authorities to take measures so that nobody else gets victimized like us
over such trivial issues.
Lastly, I am not going to submit any written apology unless responsible
academic authorities inquire into the matter and listen to our side of the
story.

Thanking (   )

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