NAGAPATTINAM: A day after the death of a 19-year-old physiotherapy student by suicide allegedly over fee payment, three, including the college group chairman, were booked under the SC/ST Act on Thursday.
S Subashini, who was pursuing first year in physiotherapy at a private college in Nagapattinam, was allegedly depressed from the mistreatment by her institution for not paying fees. Her teacher, Jency, allegedly made hurtful comments against her over the non-payment of fees. The student from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community ended her life at her house on Wednesday.
Subashini’s family soon took to a protest on the Nagore-Nagapattinam Road demanding arrest of college administrators. They refused consent for an autopsy but police pacified the protesters and sent the body to the Nagapattinam Government Hospital for the medical procedure. Protests, however, continued into Thursday.
Meanwhile, hundreds of students from the physiotherapy college and other sister institutions on Thursday staged a protest near the institution at Pappakovil over the woman’s death. Police personnel were deployed to maintain law and order.
Following this, college group chairman Dr T Ananth, principal Dr P Lakshmikanth and teacher Jency were booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Nagore police station inspector S Sivaraman, who is investigating the case, said that the three have been booked based on a complaint from the woman student’s family. “We will get to the bottom of the issue once we interrogate the accused. The accused are currently absconding,” he added.