CHENNAI : On March 2 Annamalai University
officials ordered sine die closure of the
university and told the boarders to vacate the hostels
following unrest on the campus in the wake of a
student’s death and subsequent police action.
Tension prevailed on the campus following the death of
second-year engineering student Gautham after his
two-wheeler collided with a lorry last week.
Following Gautham’s death, a section of students went to
the vice-chancellor to lodge a complaint about the lack
of proper medical attention given to the badly injured
student at the university’s Medical College Hospital.
The protesting students then were allegedly prevented
from meeting the vice-chancellor and the police brutally
chased them away from the scene. In the melee, three
students who fell into a nearby canal drowned, sparking
further protests on the campus. Two of the students who
died in the incident were from Bihar and one from
Jharkhand.
Condemning the violent incidents on the campus and the
attitude of the police which led to the loss of lives of
three more students, CPM state secretary G Ramakrishnan
demanded a judicial inquiry as such “student deaths were
again becoming an annual feature.” Ramakrishnan also
demanded action against the police officials responsible
for the “needless lathi-charge” on the students.
Backgrounder
Earlier tensions ran high on the campus in Chidambaram
town after the management rejected the students’ demand
for a Holi holiday. Over 16,000 of the estimated 28,000
students at the university — the country’s oldest
private varsity — are from north India.
Vice-chancellor Ramanthan said the demand to declare a
holiday on Holi was rejected as many working days had
already been lost because of late commencement of
courses — medical, engineering, arts and science.
Holi is not a state holiday in Tamil Nadu, where the
festival is celebrated mostly by north Indians. In
Karnataka, there is no state holiday and government-run
and private educational institutions function normally.
In Kerala, too, government offices and schools remain
open on Holi. The celebrations that take place are
restricted to military camps and Central
establishments such as ISRO.
Against the backdrop of the tension over the holiday
demand at Annamalai, Gautam Kumar, 20, a second-year
engineering student from Bihar, died in an accident on
Sunday afternoon while riding a bike in the town. He was
rushed to the university hospital but his fellow
students demanded that he be shifted to Chennai. But
Gautam died while being taken to Chennai, 220km away,
and his body was brought back to Chidambaram.
The agitated students demanded a holiday to mourn
Gautam’s death, which, too, was turned down by the
vice-chancellor. This triggered protests, with the
students throwing stones at university buildings and
buses. The police was called in and they resorted to a
lathicharge. While fleeing the cops, Jharkhand’s Sumit
Kumar, 21, and Bihar’s Mohammed Sarfraz, 21, and Ashis
Ranjan Kumar, 19, fell into a canal running along the
campus.
