Kerala student suicide: Students withdraw protest after minister assures action. Here’s what we know so far

The students of Amal Jyothi College of Engineering in Kanjirapally, Kerala decided to temporarily withdraw their protests on Wednesday after a meeting with Kerala Minister for Higher Education R Bindu. The students were protesting since Monday after a second-year engineering student allegedly died by suicide on 2 June.

Kerala Student Suicide: What do we know so far

Shraddha Satish, a 20-year-old engineering student allegedly died by suicide on Friday. The death of the students caused a massive uproar and students staged a protest alleging that Shraddha took her life due to the mental harassment by the college authorities.

Following the protests, the college decided to shut the hostel indefinitely and asked the students to vacate the premises, but the students refused to leave the place. The students alleged that the college management also used police force against them.

The students have claimed that Shraddha was under pressure for her low marks and the college administration even confiscated her phone. She was under a lot of stress as the administration was threatening to meet her parents.

The removal of the hostel warden and head of the food technology department was among the major demands of the students.

Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the ruling party also joined the student protest on Monday and also clashed with the police when it tried to stop them. The college management has maintained that they have no idea why the students are protesting.

On Wednesday, Kerala Minister for Higher Education R Bindu met with the protesting students and assured them that Crime Branch will investigate the suicide case and action will be taken against the concerned college staff.

The minister also criticized the strict rules imposed by the colleges for the students. News platform ONMANORAMA quoted the minister saying, “Colleges should not be so immature, the students have been facing too much pressure due to discipline and moral policing in colleges.”