‘Please don’t make this an India vs IIT issue’

• I am an Indian studying at the University of California, Berkeley, and have kept up with the Satyendra Dubey story on the Internet. C...

• I am an Indian studying at the University of California, Berkeley, and have kept up with the Satyendra Dubey story on the Internet. Congratulations for your focus on the issue. Some aspects of the coverage have rattled me though.

One, why is everyone making this an IIT versus India story? Did Dubey get killed just because he was an IITian? Why is his being an IITian emphasised all the time? From the way many IITians have reacted, it seems we need a paramilitary force to protect those IIT alumni who oblige India by offering not to migrate to the United States.

Two, coming to revealing identities, why on earth has your paper revealed the identity of the witness, the rickshawpuller? I’m sure the poor man had no idea his name would be bandied about like this. Has anyone read him his rights?

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If the government or investigative agency let it out, why didn’t you question them? Did he volunteer this information? It seems unlikely. Why this disregard? Because he’s not an IITian? Not educated enough to know what’s going on?

Snigdha Sen

• The PMO and the NHAI are responsible for blowing Dubey’s cover. Those guilty must be punished. The government must take care of Dubey’s family.

H.S. Gambhir

• Satyendra’s story reminded me of Satyakam, a film made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, starring Dharmendra and depicting the life of an honest man.

I thought such people didn’t exist in India anymore. But Satyendra and Preity Zinta — who spoke out against extortion threats to the film fraternity — have proved the contrary. They are the revolutionaries of the present age.

S.N. Nagaonkar

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• If this cannot wake us up, India better know its future. Fight for honesty. Don’t look for others to do it. Do it yourself.

Ritu

• The situation in many Department of Science and Technology institutions is worse than in the NHAI. In January 2002, one R.S. Rawat from Dehra Dun raised the issue with then central vigilance commissioner N. Vithal — on a Doordarshan television programme. The poor fellow was harassed and his promotions were blocked. All this because he asked questions in the national interest.

Is every honest person in India destined to meet Dubey’s fate?

R.C. Sharma

• The murder of Satyendra Dubey has moved everybody, other than a few politicians and bureaucrats. Let us not politicise this issue. Let us keep aside our differences and do something about the rotten system. It is destroying India’s intellectual property.

Prasanna Jawalkar

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• Why is the government still mum on the Dubey issue? Why has it not taken steps to arrest the culprits? Is it simply incapable?

Mahendra Dave

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