The state Human Rights Commission in Kerala registered a suo motu case against Dr. Leksmi Nair -Principal of the Kerala Law Academy Law College in Thiruvananthapuram- on Monday for reported abuse of dalit students.

The Principal had declared the Academy shut following protests by student unions over the recent death of Jishnu a first-year computer science student which was termed an ‘institutional murder’.

This in turn triggered a slew of protests by the students who accused the Principal of disparaging Dalit students by their caste names. Rights Commission member P. Mohandas registered the case in a sitting on Monday, following 12 days of continuous protests.

 Various student organisations including SFI, KSU, MSF and AISF accused the Principal of “devoting more time to television programmes” than attending to the academic affairs of the Academy. 

Lekshmi  is a known face among Malayalis through anchoring of a popular cookery show on television.

They had earlier alleged that Lekshmi had denied them permission to protest against Jishnu’s death, as she feared that the Management’s corrupt practices would be exposed.

They even went on to accuse her of using her discretion to arbitrarily award internal marks to favoured students, and harass those she did not approve of.