SFI Torture, Kerala Girl’s Attempts Suicide (Representative Image)
Reports pour from Tiruvananthapuram University College of suicide attempt by a girl student due to fascist and anti-woman actions of SFI activists. The girl did not return home from the college on May 3 hence her parents had lodged a complaint. Police found her lying down unconscious. The first year Degree (Chemisty) student had cut the vein in her wrist causing profuse bleeding. She had left a suicide note behind. In that note, she had made it clear that her action was due to the mental torture from the side of SFI. She has given a list of the SFI students who tortured her.
Kerala State Human Rights Commision has registered a suo motu case in this regard. K.T. Jaleel, the minister for Higher Eduation, has asked the Director of Higher Education to carry out an inquiry and report. There are complaints against the state police’s move to register a cas against the suicide attempt. There are allegations that the steps of both the minister as well as the police are for saving the SFI culprits. The suicide note recovered from the girl explains the tortures she had suffered and the pro SFI stand of the principal and other teachers in the campus.
The girl has stated in the letter that she had many a dreams when she joined University College. She passed her Plus 2 examinations, despite vision impairment, scoring high marks hence she joined the college to study her famourite subject. But, her bitter experiences in the college had shattered all her dreams. They mentally tortured her a lot. She says, students were mere slaves for them. She could not even have some food before her semester examinations. SFI workers, led by her classmates Adityachandran and Atulya, threatened her. The note says, both of them are responsible for her miserable condition. Jishnu and Prince phoned her several times one after another to threaten her. They would not permit her to appear for the examinations if he did not go and meet them.
As a result she had to go to the examination hall sans taking any food. Since she suffered low BP she felt reeling. Starvation played insult to injury; naturally she could not perform well in the exam hall. Even during the menstrual period she were forced to walk in the sun as part of the SFI agitations. She used to beg to exempt her, but all fell on deaf years. She could not catch her right bus (which could take her very close to her house), thanks to the arrogance of SFI blokes. When she set out to leave, they abused her physically and caught hold of her to stop. Even though she complained to the principal, he did not take any action. She liked to go home on the eve of the physics examination since there was no class on that day; but they forcefully took her to participate in the SFI march. Consequently, she could not study well hence could not appear for the examinaiton.
She says, her life is in hot soup. Even the faculties do not undertand her problem hence she did not want to continue her life. She has made it clear that Adityachandran, Atulya, SFI men and principal would be responsible for her death: “I am like mad. You people have shredded by dreams that much. No other girl should not land in similar situation”.
She concludes the note: “O ! Mother, Do not leave them alone. All of you will suffer like anyting for messing up my life. You will land in hell and die. Your younger sisters will commit suicide like this. My spirit will not forgive you. What wrong I did to you Aditya, You will suffer, mind it”.
People in the arena of academics, believe that this is a typical example of ragging. Whatever hardships the girls had to undergo are construed as ragging as per the UGC rules. Principal and others who abetted the wrongs will be responsible for the whole episode, they say. State Human Rights Commission Chairman Jusitce Antony Dominic has asked the College Education Director and the Principal should submit their enquiry reports within a month.
In the meantime, the girl told in her statement before the magistrate that she does not like to go ahead with the case. She wrote the letter in a depressed mood. But, it is noteworthy that she has not gone back on any of the allegations she had listed in the note. Observers believe that SFI’s pressure is behind the development. And, since police has registered a case aganst her for suicide attempt, she is practically trapped.
Tiruvananthapuram University College has been a fascist bastion of SFI since long. No other orgnisation can conduct their orgnisational activities there, let along file the nomination papers for college union elections or contest. SFI men pelt the marches of ABVP, NSUI or BJYM if they take the route of the college. Few months back a band of SFI men from the University College beat some policemen when one of them stopped an SFI man who rode his bike through wrong direction. The policemen were hospitalised for several days; at last one of them was suspended for the alleged social media post against CM Pinarayi Vijayan. A former college principal agree that there is a “torture chamber” in the campus.
Last year a lady professor-in-charge of extra curricular activites in the same college was gheraoed by both girls and boys for several hours together. She was not even permitted to go to answer the nature’s call. She had told the media that girls had hit her with sharp pens and they pulled her hairs. They showered dirty abuses on her.
A student from another college was asked to remove rakhi from his wrist when he came to participate in a stage programme in University Colllege. No, doubt the the current situation prevailing in University College is not in favour of democratic system, it is anti woman. It is a nursery of CPM violence.
