Sri Sai Ram College of Engineering - Student Committed Suicide - Students Protest - Demand to Arrest CEO & Campus Director

Arrest CEO, campus director: Sairam students : (News : The Hindu)

A small group of students, sporting handkerchiefs over their faces, protested against the management of Sri Sairam Engineering College and demanded justice in the case of the suicide of first-year student, T. Abinath. Traffic was briefly affected near the T. Nagar bus terminus on Saturday morning due to the protest.

The students demanded the arrest of the college’s CEO Saiprakash Leo Muthu and campus director Balu, who has been accused previously of manhandling and treating the students harshly.

“Abinath didn’t commit suicide because he had arrears. We think he committed suicide because of the way he was treated by the hostel warden,” said a student who participated in the protest.

Meanwhile, the victim’s father said Abinath was pushed over the edge by college authorities.

“My son is not someone who will commit suicide because he couldn’t study medicine. We reject the college management’s version of the events. He was a boy with dreams. Recently, he had told me that the warden was often harsh with him and that his identity card was being confiscated for flimsy reasons. He was also made to pay fines regularly. We suspect that he was pushed into committing suicide,” said the victim’s father, Thangaraj.

The students said that they would not give up the agitation until all their demands were met. “We want the management to remove Balu from his post. And we want the college to give it in writing. We also want an elected student body to take care of the welfare of the students,” said a student.

Students and relatives also staged a protest at the Government Hospital at Chromepet. Abinath’s relatives said they would not receive the body till the college officials were charge-sheeted. After senior police officials held hour-long negotiations with them, the relatives agreed to receive the body, which was then taken to their native place Perambalur.

Kundrathur inspector R. Frank D. Rubean said that a case had been registered under Section 174 of Cr.PC. and the post-mortem report was awaited.

The boy’s relatives initially refused to receive his body, seeking action against officials
Students Stage Protest on  Sai Ram College (News : Times of India)

Students of Sri Sai Ram College of Engineering staged protests on Saturday as they demanded action against campus director P Balu in light of the suicide of a first year student, T Abhinath.

At least 50 students gathered near the college trust office in T Nagar and demanded arrest of Balu. They alleged that he had harassed the student by reprimanding him. They demanded to form a student committee and to permit debarred students to the college again.