Expelled for a Critical Facebook Post, Kerala Student Attempts Suicide
Image Courtesy : Maktoob Media
A second-year student of foreign studies from Central University of Kerala (CUK) allegedly attempted suicide Tuesday morning. Akhil Thazhath, has been hospitalised, and is said to be stable.
Thazhath was expelled from the CUK for putting up a Facebook post that allegedly criticised the university administration on September 8. He has been suspended since June 25 pending an enquiry. The enquiry committee has failed so far in proving the allegations. They had reportedly asked the student himself to produce the post as a proof against himself.
Students’ Federation of India (SFI) has started an indefinite strike, asking the administration to revoke expulsion of Akhil, and has staged a sit-in protest in front of the pro vice chancellor's office. Police have been deployed inside the university.
In a press release the university had issued after the expulsion, it was said that Thazhath had not apologised, and the executive council decided to expel him. However, he reportedly had submitted a letter apologising for any misunderstanding he caused. The letter said that he didn't post anything intentionally to disgrace anyone on the campus.
Even after the expulsion, Thazhath was constantly harassed by the administration whenever he tried to reason with them, according to some of the students. He was reportedly denied permission to enter the campus on the grounds of expulsion even when he explained that he was there to collect the committee report of the enquiry. He was denied permission to meet the pro vice-chancellor via a circular that alleged that Thazhath was drunk. A complaint registered with the police has been attached as a proof.
The chronicle of events that led to the expulsion of the student began when the university fired the cooks in the boys’ hostel mess. They were reportedly fired because the UGC had asked the university to reduce the number of outsourced staff. According to the UGC norms, a university can only appoint outsourced staff to up to 100 posts. It was above 190 for the CUK. Many of them were allegedly appointed based on their political affiliation or lenience to BJP or RSS. By firing the cooks, the administration tried to overcome this technical barrier.
Thazhath, along with his fellow students were constantly protesting against the saffronisation of the administration.
Thazhath is not the first victim of this censorship. G Nagaraju, a PhD scholar in CUK had to serve five days in jail for breaking a 200-rupee glass in his hostel. Dr Prasad Pannian, head of the department of English, was suspended for putting up a Facebook post supporting Nagaraju.
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