Kerala: Crime Branch to probe Shraddha death case; Students end protest in college

Minister of Higher Education R Bindu after meeting the students and the management of the Amal Jyothi Engineering College assured that the Crime Branch will investigate the death case of Shraddha Satheesh.

Kottayam: Minister of Higher Education R Bindu after meeting the students and the management of the Amal Jyothi Engineering College assured that the Crime Branch will investigate the death of Shraddha. 

"The college will reopen on Monday," the Minister informed. 

Following the suicide case of Shraddha Satheesh (20), the students launched a massive protest against the management of the college over alleged harassment. 

Minister R Bindu and Minister for Cooperation VN Vasavan held talks with the representatives of the college management and students on Wednesday. 

On Tuesday, Minister R Bindu slammed the state's self-financing universities for establishing stringent policies on their campuses. She was responding to the controversy around Shraddha's suicide. "Colleges shouldn't be so immature. College moral policing and discipline have put too much pressure on students, the minister claimed. 

It is alleged that the student died by suicide after facing harassment from her teachers. The college management decided to shut the college indefinitely as the students intensified protests. The students were instructed to vacate the hostel however, they refused to do. 

Shraddha, a native of Thiruvankulam in Tripunithura of Ernakulam was found hanging in her hostel room on Friday (June 2) evening after college officials allegedly took her mobile phone.

The girl's family alleged that the teacher's mental torture led her to commit suicide. The family also accused the college authorities of deliberately failing to take the girl to the hospital. 

The college authorities scolded her for using her mobile phone in the college laboratory. They took the phone away for two days and called Shraddha's parents in Ernakulam to retrieve it. When the college administration told the girl's family about the incident, they claimed that the student had received lower marks in the semester exam. Shraddha was most likely upset by this.