In March, when the campus of the Central University of Kerala erupted in student protest demanding hostel facilities, Ganthoti Nagaraju - a Dalit PhD scholar and native of Khammam in Telangana - was at
the forefront. The relay hunger strike went on for days and the administration, led by Vice Chancellor G Gopa Kumar, called in the police. The district police chief sent in a young Assistant Superintendent of Police, Vishwanathan K, to pacify the students. Nagaraju, a natural leader and former hostel mate of Rohit Vemula in Hyderabad University, was seen reasoning with the officer.
In frustration, Nagaraju told the officer: "Sir, I have one more request. Can we write and give a complaint against the registrar, the VC and the warden? Can you arrest them? All the students present here will give it in writing saying they are working against the UGC rules? I am requesting you." The charm of his naivety evoked a smile from the officer. Fellow protesters whistled and applauded it. The brief video of the interaction was widely shared by students. Four months on, the administration 'viciously got back' at Nagaraju for the "emotional outburst", said students.
On a complaint filed by registrar A Radhakrishnan Nair, the Bekal police arrested and charged him with destroying "public property," a non-bailable offence, and is languishing in Kanhangad sub-jail since Thursday. He is accused of breaking the glass surface of a fire extinguisher cabinet in his hostel on July 7. "Initially, we did not want to press the charge as the price of the glass could have been recovered from his caution deposit, but the registrar insisted on it," said a police officer. He was picked up by officers in mufti at 6 pm on Thursday (August 9). The magistrate denied him bail, and the students were not able to secure his release even on Monday.
Massive protest
Students of the Central University of Kerala - cutting across party affiliations - staged a massive protest on the campus in Periya on Monday, demanding that the Registrar withdraw his complaint. But on Monday, neither the Registrar, who filed the complaint nor the Vice Chancellor was on the campus. Around nine student organisations put up a united front for Nagaraju, a scholar in the Department of Linguistics and leader of the Ambedkar Students Association, which is controlling the students' council of the university.
"He came to Kasargod for his PhD but the university made him a criminal," said Kasargod MLA N A Nellikkunnu, who called on the scholar in the sub-jail in Kanhangad. "He has done no crime to end up in prison. Now he is in jail for five days," he said. The MLA said the police were also mentally harassing Nagaraju by questioning if he was using and selling drugs and if he was a Maoist.
The university could have avoided all this, considering he was suspended from the hostel and he was ready to pay up for the loss. An act of misdemeanour has been criminalised is deeply disturbing, said the head of the Department of Comparative Literature and English and associate professor Prasad Pannian in a Facebook Post. "It is extremely saddening to know that our student is lying on the cold floor of the prison cell on charges of breaking a glass pane. I strongly condemn this arrest and appeal to the authorities to immediately secure the release of our student," he said in the post.
Though most of the teachers condemned the Vice-Chancellor's decision to press criminal charge against the student, none of them was ready to come on record fearing retribution. SFI state secretary Sachin Dev, who addressed the protest meet, said the university should stop criminalising students engaged in student politics. "Nagaraju is a victim of saffronisation of the campus," he said.
To be sure, the ABVP - the student wing of the BJP - stayed away from the protest on Monday. The protesters told Express most of the students who led the relay hunger strike for better hostel facilities had been targeted. Shilpa, Abhinand Kishore, Subramanian N Sarath, Aleena George, and Avala Ramu have been ousted from the hostel, they said. None of the students agreed to come on record.
"You can name me today. But you will have to write a report on me tomorrow," said a student. Akhil, a student was suspended from all academic activities months ago, for a Facebook post purportedly critical of the administration. Alfred Charlie, one of the few students to air their angst publicly, said in a Facebook post that the university was cultivating fear on the campus. "Silence is the law here. I am afraid even to tag people in this post," he said.