Students of Amrita School of Engineering in Bengaluru’s Kasavanahalli near Bellandur continued their protest for the second straight day on Tuesday. This after a fellow student had killed himself following alleged harassment by the college administration.
On Monday, Harsha, a fourth-year engineering student had killed himself after college authorities rusticated him, after days of alleged harassment. Police continued to remain on campus even though no classes were held. No incidents of violence were reported on Tuesday.
The students demanded that the accused must be punished swiftly and that the Chancellor of the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Kerala-based spiritual leader Amritanandamayi should reach Bengaluru and address the students about how the management will solve the ongoing issue.
A proposal by the management to announce holiday on account of Monday’s tragedy was also rejected by the students unanimously.
Students that TNM spoke to said that they have been told that Amritanandamayi is currently in Switzerland. The students then asked Dean Sasangan Ramanathan who operates out of Coimbatore to come and address them, but this demand too was declined. This led to the students continuing their sit-in protests at the college campus.
“We have no faith in the current administration . We want our Chancellor to come and suggest a way out. We will not compromise and will continue our protests,” one of the protestors said.
He added, “All the students are gathered in the college to fight for justice and to make sure that this doesn't happen with any other student."
The problem in the college started as students were frustrated that repeated complaints on the lack of decent food and sufficient water at the hostel were not acknowledged.
The protests in September led to an incident of vandalism in which windscreens and windows of six college-owned buses were broken.
The college’s disciplinary action committee wanted Harsha to 'confess' his involvement in the incident of vandalism. This despite another student apparently telling the committee that Harsha was in no way involved.
In a statement, the students also said the director of the institute Dhanraj Swami had allegedly ridiculed the student’s demand in a formal meeting where he apparently joked that the failure of Chandrayaan-2 and depreciation of the rupee was the reason behind the college not being able to pay water tankers.
The students said that so far the college authorities had already rusticated 15 students across batches and another 45 were suspended for the same act. They alleged all the students were punished arbitrarily without any iota of evidence.
Meanwhile, Parappana Agrahara Police Station Inspector Venu told TNM that they are still investigating the case.