Police protection was strengthened around the National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C) campus on Thursday subsequent to a series of agitations launched by various student organisations against a professor after his name was found mentioned in a note by a rusticated former student who allegedly ended his life on Tuesday while pursuing the Bachelor of Design course at Lovely Professional University, Punjab.
It was a group of Students Federation of India (SFI) activists who began agitation in front of the institute on Wednesday night after the Phagwara police from Punjab booked the professor, who is also the director of the institute, under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. The protesters who sought action against him also locked horns with the police while taking out a march to the campus and attempted to cross barricades at the entrance.
“The activists who tried to attack the police covered the NIT-C’s board with a banner seeking justice for the student. Some SFI leaders also threatened to manhandle the professor involved in the controversy,” said a police officer who was present at the spot on Wednesday night. He added that tension prevailed in the area as students continued their sit-in for hours.
On Thursday evening, a group of Muslim Students Federation activists also took out a march to the NIT-C holding the management accountable for the untimely death of the 21-year-old student. They claimed that student who belonged to a financially backward family in Cherthala had taken the extreme step due to the mental agony and isolation he faced on the NIT-C campus.
Meanwhile, the NIT-C authorities who dismissed the allegations clarified that the student who took admission for the B-Tech (computer science) course in 2018 had not passed in two first-year subjects even after four years of study.
“Similarly, eight subjects from the second year were also pending along with the entire third and fourth year subjects. As per the B.Tech regulations of the institute, he was ineligible to complete the course within the maximum duration of six years,” they said in an official communication here on Wednesday.
(Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies may seek help and counselling support by contacting any of the following numbers of Thanal, a centre for befriending persons instituted by the Indian Medical Association, Kozhikode. Phone: 04952-760000. WhatsApp: 7902281306.)
