Jishnu death row: Mother slams Kerala CM's painful silence

In a poignant open letter,  mother of Jishnu Pranoy, the B.Tech student who died early this month in his college hostel, slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his alleged negligence and apathy. 
 

Introducing herself as a former activist of the left wing students union Student's Federation of India (SFI), Mahija regretted that Vijayan did not respond to her three letters demanding fair probe into the death of her son, who was found hanging in the hostel room of Nehru College of Engineering at Pambadi in Thrissur. The Death had triggered an outrage in the state against self-financing institutions after the student's organisations and relatives alleged that the death was caused by harassment by the college authorities. 
 

"It's 23 days since my son died. I feel pained to understand that you didn't bother to give a call or write a condolence message on Facebook," Mahija wrote. "Jishnu's favourite leader, after Che Guevara, was Pinarayi Vijayan," she said. Mahija also alleged that the college management harassed and tortured her son for organising students to protest under the banner of SFI against Kerala Technical University.
 

The letter went on to narrate in detail how her son's body was found hanging in a bathroom of his hostel. There were blood stains in the bathroom. But somebody had cleaned up the room before the police arrived at the spot. "We don't think it was a suicide. Though the college management suspended two teachers of the college and the PRO in connection with the incident, the police have not taken any action against them so far," she pointed out. 
 

"We are surprised that you seem to be unaware of the the brutal torture of college managements and the plight of other students who are awaiting the same fate," Mahija criticised the Chief Minister. "We are pained by the fact that you have not uttered a word against Nehru College and its management. We used to take pride in having a Chief Minister who unreservedly denounced social evils. Please don't disappoint us," she concluded with revolutionary greetings. 

Jishnu, a Computer Science student of Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre, was found hanging in his hostel room on 6 January, triggering widespread protests across the state after it was revealed that he had undergone physical and mental torture by the college authorities. Similar incidents of torture in other colleges also came to light and the students' agitation is continuing without respite.  

• Jishnu death
• Pinarayi Vijayan
• Jishnu's mother
• Self Financing Colleges
• Student unrest in Kerala