A day after a student from PES University lost his life on their Electronics City campus, the boy’s parents have alleged that he jumped to his death from the college building. The 21-year-old BE (Computer Science) student Rahul K. died after falling from the sixth floor of the building on Tuesday (May 14) morning.
“Based on the complaint from his father, we have filed an unnatural death report under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code. We are probing the case, and more details will be revealed as the investigation proceeds,” said C.K. Baba, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), southeast division.
This is the fourth such incident at PES University in one year, three of which occurred on the same campus. Meanwhile, the university’s students took to social media about the recent tragic incidents. In posts that went viral, many students alleged that Rahul took the extreme step after being told that he would not be allowed to write the exam because he arrived late at the hall.
“The student was a third-year student whose exam was at 8.30 a.m.. He arrived at 9 a.m., was not allowed to write the end semester exam, and was even told he would get a backlog and wouldn’t be able to sit for placements,” a student claimed on social media.
Students also alleged that the university carried on with the day without addressing the unfortunate incident on the campus. They also demanded that the university should conduct a thorough investigation into the matter and provide mental health support to the students affected by it.
The university, however, denied these allegations. “In all our institutions we have an assessment centre where exams are taken. Rahul never came to that building. Even his mother said that he left home early and came to the university by two-wheeler. After the incident, we informed his parents, and we declared a holiday for the students who had witnessed it. But exams went on as scheduled,” said J. Surya Prasad, Vice-Chancellor, PES University.
Speaking about Rahul, he said, “He was a cheerful student and was improving ever since the first semester. He had good internal marks too. He reportedly missed out on an examination last week and he told the coordinator that he had to go to his native place to sign some papers. He was told to write the exam later as we do not have the system to penalise students if they fail to write exams. What happened is very disturbing and shocking.”
Mr. Prasad also said that the University is taking all the steps like interventions, confidence building and emotional strengthening programmes to avoid such incidents.
(Those in distress or those having suicidal tendencies can call Arogya Sahayavani Ph.: 104 for help.)
