The Kerala police have registered a case under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act against the principal of a private law college in Kerala which has been witnessing massive students’ agitation for the last couple of weeks over allegations of casteism, nepotism, harassment and illegal land grab by the college management.
The case against the principal of Thiruvananthapuram-based Kerala Law Academy, Lakshmi Nair, also a celebrity television anchor in Malayalam, has been registered on a complaint of harassment by some students for calling them by their caste names. The Kerala university syndicate has debarred the principal for five years from examination duties and internal assessment.
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Kerala has been witnessing massive students’ strike in the last couple of weeks reminiscent of the protests at the Film and Television Institute (FTII), Pune, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi and Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Hyderabad.
It all began after the suicide of a self-financing college student in the state which led to widespread criticisms of the functioning of private colleges.
Jishnu Pranoy, the 18-year-old student at Nehru College of Engineering in Thrissur district, hanged himself inside his room. College management said he took his life after being caught cheating during an examination but his classmates said the boy was assaulted for questioning the college management why the examination was being conducted by a private agency instead of by the college itself.
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His suicide snowballed into a widespread protest. Students from across the state started revealing their bad experiences from college managements on social media platforms. The gravest among them came from the Kerala Law Academy.
The students of the Law Academy, who have been on a war path for the past 20 days, have demanded the removal of Nair, who is considered close to a section of top leaders in the ruling CPI(M).
Congress chief in Kerala, V M Sudheeran, alleged that the impasse over the issue was continuing due to the CPI(M)'s intervention, adding that the Marxist party should not create any hurdles on the matter concerning the students agitation.
"The Principal should resign and government should be prepared to make her resign. The affiliation of the college should be withdrawn and government should take it over", he told reporters.
Former KPCC President, K Muraleedharan said if the government fails to find a solution to the issue within 48 hours, he would launch an indefinite hunger strike. BJP National Executive member, V Muraleedharan, is on an indefinite hunger strike in front of the college since Jan 20 in support of the demands of the students.
The ruling CPI(M), which has so far given a cold shoulder to the agitation, has said the strike by students should not be politicised.
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Students organisations affiliated to various political parties, including CPI(M), are on strike and have made it clear that they would continue until the resignation of the Principal.
