Violence at Chennai's Sathyabama University over student's suicide
Angered over a fellow student's suicide, about 300 students of Chennai's Sathyabama University went on a violent rampage on Wednesday night, damaging hostel properties. A first-year student hung herself to death after allegedly being humiliated by the university administration for cheating in an exam. Students have been asked to immediately vacate hostels as the university shuts down till January 3, 2018.
Students blame university for tough curriculum, lack of facilities
It all started with "we want justice" protests on the campus at around 7:30pm on Wednesday, which soon broke into a full-blown riot and arson. Slamming the university for tough curriculum, lack of facilities, and now forcing a student to commit suicide, the rioters burnt mattresses, a tree, and damaged furniture, lights and electrical accessories. Under police patrol, the situation is now under control.
Previous instances of student agitation at Sathyabama University
This isn't the first time that the 30-year-old deemed university has seen student agitation. There has been unrest previously because of issues such as outdated dress code, orthodox rules preventing students from cross-gender interaction, and getting approvals from the All India Council for Technical Education.
The deceased was a native of Hyderabad
The deceased, Ragamounika, was from Hyderabad. A first-year engineering student at the university, she was allegedly humiliated in front of her classmates for copying in an exam. She reportedly hung herself after returning to the hostel. It was Ragamounika's batchmates who had started the protests, which soon spiraled out of control. Ragamounika's body has been sent to Royapettah Government Hospital for postmortem.
Second student commits suicide in Chennai within a month
It's the second controversial student suicide in Chennai within a month. Prakash, a fourth-year arts student at a city government-college, killed himself on October 26. His batchmates claimed he was forced into committing suicide by his department head who put undue academic pressure on him.
