After violent protests and arson by students of the Sathyabama University on Wednesday night, allegedly to demand justice for a girl who had committed suicide, the institution has now been shut down temporarily. Stories from a section of the students suggest that the protests had had more selfish motives rather than outrage over the girl’s death.
Duvvuru Raga Monica Reddy, who was caught for copying during an exam had committed suicide shortly after in the university hostel.
Although protests broke out initially, triggered by the tragedy, the violence and arson that ensued later reportedly did not carry any real motive. A post on an anonymous Facebook page by the name, Sathyabamians justice carried a post yesterday with a detailed timeline of events that led up to Monica’s death and also what followed.
On being contacted via Facebook messenger, Sathyabamians justice turned out to be a page by one of the students of the university, who had faced suicidal thoughts before.
On condition of anonymity, the student asserted that the Monica was not ‘shamed’ as such in any way by officials as claimed by a section of the media. But, the girl was debarred from writing exams and was to be questioned. “No, she was not even touched,” the source said.
The anonymous student however said that the incident could have made Monica, a first year, who is concerned about what her parents would think and her personal future, to feel guilty and frightened.
The student who knew Monica in person further said that she was very good at studies, even participated in extra-curricular activities at the university and was “very connected (sic) to Andhra Pradesh's educational competition system.”
“I’ve been in her (Monica’s) stage (Had depressed thoughts). She was treated same like other thousand students. But, this student was not same like other thousands. She was more sensitive,“ said the student.
The anonymous source revealed that students who were caught for malpractice during examinations were dealt with strictly and would be debarred from writing any further exams for two semesters.
“My friend, a girl was caught for malpractice on her first exam. She was called to the HOD’s room. They cancelled her two semesters' exams. She never wrote any exam. Later on, she will have to write the exams in a separate exam cell. This is the general procedure,” said Sathyabamians justice.
The source added that the college also has appointed a counsellor for every 51 students. The counsellors were approachable. However, Monica had not sought help.
Because the management was not entirely to be blamed, the protests had actually shocked many of the students. The anonymous student said that one of the main reasons for the protest was the spreading of rumours and fake news through word of mouth and on social media.
A popular Tamil meme page, Mogappair Memes with over 40,000 followers, carried provocative posts, which were later removed after some of the students started to report it.
An apology had also been issued later, but the damage was done.
“This meme was taken further by an unverified Instagram page, vijaydevarkonda, which uses the name of a renowned Telugu actor and is followed by over 81,000 people,” the anonymous student said. Vijay Devarakonda is the star of the recently released hit Telugu film, Arjun Reddy.
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Fake news targeting Sathyabama University spread rapidly and at one point the protests were completely aimed at the management over issues of comfort in the college that had nothing to do with the girl’s suicide.
Another student from the university had also posted on Facebook about the incident. She mentioned in her post that in one of the videos circulated among students, a boy can be seen laughing and shouting, “Wi-fi venum! (We want Wi-fi!)”
Unprecedented violence at the Sathyabama Deemed University is not uncommon. “Clash between management and students is long time happening. It’s like out of 100, 70 support, 30 against. Chaos happens frequently, once in three years is an average. But this time, it happened this year and last year too (sic),” says the anonymous student.