Several people bid a tearful farewell to 18-year-old Ragamonika on Thursday, as her body reached her native village of Matumadugu in Dakkili mandal of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.
Ragamonika, a student of Sathyabhama University in Chennai, was caught copying in the exam and was admonished. Upset at this, she committed suicide.
The Times of India reported that scores of friends and college-mates took part in the funeral as her parents performed the last rites.
"We know for sure that she took the extreme decision because of the humiliation meted out to her in front of the whole class for reportedly copying in the exams. You cannot humiliate her and just send her off to her room. Some form of counselling needs to be given her. At least they should have informed us to enable us to help her. We have lodged a complaint with the Chennai police who are looking into the matter," Ragamonika's father, Raja Reddy. was quoted as saying.
Ragamonika’s death lead to major protests in the campus with first year students setting their hostel beds on fire, and engaging in acts of vandalism on Wednesday evening, even as they shouted slogans demanding justice.
Police personnel and fire services descended on the Sathyabama University campus to bring the situation under control, and early on Thursday morning, the management declared that the University will be closed till January 3, evacuated the hostels, and postponed the semester exams.
In the wee hours of Thursday, the family went to the Semmenchery police station and filed a complaint against the college, following which the post-mortem was conducted at the Royapettah hospital in Chennai.
The family says that it wants to know where the 18-year-old was taken from the examination hall and who spoke to her after she was sent out of class.
The holidays were declared from Dec 2 to Jan 2 so that the exams that are left could be conducted in January.