A group of citizens gathered for a peaceful protest at Freedom Park on Saturday in the aftermath of a third-year engineering student who jumped to death at the PES University, Electronics City campus on May 14. They also demanded that harassment of students by authorities at educational institutions should be made a criminal offence.
Since July 2023, there have been four student deaths on two campuses of PES University. The parents of the first victim, Aditya Prabhu, were present at the protest.
“PES University made no contact with us or extended their condolences or even apologised to us when we lost our son,” said Asha Prabhu, Aditya’s mother,
Although there were three professors named in the case of Aditya Prabhu and charged with abetment of suicide under section 306, the management did not take any action, she said. “Forget about dismissing; they did not even suspend the professors, which speaks volumes about the attitude of the university towards its students,” she alleged.
Dushant Dubey, a social worker of St. Broseph Foundation, who has met various political leaders at both State and Central levels demanding investigation and action in the matter of these student deaths, said that despite these efforts, no action had been taken against the University till date.
(Those in distress or those having suicidal tendencies can call Arogya Sahayavani Ph.: 104 for help.)
