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The Kerala High Court on Tuesday, April 28, initiated a suo motu case over violence reported during a statewide hartal or bandh called by Dalit organisations in protest against the death of BDS student Nithin Raj. According to a Live Law report, a division bench of Justices Basant Balaji and P Krishna Kumar noted reports of at least 27 cases registered across the state and sought a response from the state police chief.
Earlier in 2019, the HC had banned hartals and ordered that organisers would be liable for violence caused during the hartal.
Around 52 Dalit organisations in Kerala held a hartal on April 28 to demand the arrest of those responsible for the death of 22-year-old Nithin Raj, a first-year BDS student at a private college in Kannur. Nithin died by suicide on April 10, allegedly due to harassment, including casteist remarks and body shaming, from his professors. The accused in the case were identified as Dr MK Ram, former head of the Anatomy Department at Nithin’s college, and another faculty member, Sangeetha Nambiar.
By afternoon, 91 people had been arrested in connection with clashes, road blockades, and disruptions to public transport. Protesters stopped both the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), especially in Thiruvananthapuram, and private buses. Several candidates appearing for the VIT (Vellore Institute of Technology) entrance examination were stuck on the roads, and the strike also reportedly affected patients.
Meanwhile, Wake Up Kerala, a collective of writers, artists, social activists, and environmentalists in the Kerala State Committee, condemned the Kerala HC’s decision to initiate suo motu proceedings.
“Nithin Raj’s suicide cannot be treated as an isolated incident. He is only the latest victim of the deep-rooted caste-based discrimination that persists in Kerala’s higher education sector. The widespread outrage against such institutionalised injustice found expression in the hartal called by Dalit organisations. It is particularly noteworthy that, unlike many other hartals, this protest remained entirely peaceful, with no reports of violence or damage to public property,” the press note said.