VILLUPURAM: Two days after an 18-year-old Dalit student from Vikravandi taluk died under suspicious circumstances at the University in Coimbatore, her family held a protest on Sunday against the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) and the state government. Her relatives staged a demonstration along the Chennai-Tiruchy highway for half an hour on Sunday and withdrew after police pacified them.
The deceased student, M Dharnika, hails from Melakondhai village. The second-year BSc Agriculture student of TNAU was found dead in the bathroom of the women’s hostel in Coimbatore on Friday.
According to sources, she went to the hostel bathroom on Friday morning to take a bath but did not come out for a long time. Her friends allegedly assumed she would proceed directly to class and left for their lectures. Six hours had passed, and Dharnika was yet to attend classes. Concerned, her classmates returned to the hostel to check on her.
Upon finding the bathroom door locked from inside, her peers alerted hostel workers and forced it open to find her unconscious. She was rushed to a nearby private hospital, where doctors referred her to Coimbatore Government Medical College Hospital. Doctors there declared that she had already died, police sources said.
Police registered a case on Saturday and are conducting an investigation. The FIR, however, was filed under section 194 (unnatural death) of BNSS, 2023, alone. Family members alleged that the university administration was lethargic and inconsiderate in their behaviour towards the incident. Additionally, they claimed that the RS Puram police station in Coimbatore failed to register the case under the SC/ST PoA Act, raising suspicion on the handling of the death.
Speaking to TNIE, M Vasuki, Dharnika’s mother, said, “On Friday afternoon, one deputy warden informed us that our daughter was sick and admitted to a hospital. We reached Coimbatore by 8 pm only to receive the body from the police. None of the responsible authorities from the university met with us, nor did anyone explain why and how the death occurred. This raised suspicious circumstances surrounding her death.”
Meanwhile, police sources said she had a history of seizures and were examining whether she may have sufferedo one before her death. Rejecting this, Dharnika’s parents said she had no known health issues.
The family also questioned why the hostel administration did not act when she remained missing for several hours.
“Her lips were swollen, and there were dark marks on her cheek when we saw the body. We feel it should’ve been an attempt to conceal what had happened in the hostel,” said Vasuki.
Vasuki further said, “None of the authorities, including the Head of the Department, the dean, the principal, or even a professor, spoke to us directly about the incident, let alone consoling us for the loss.
imultaneously, the police too were eager to give the body to us and sign the papers. We feel discriminated against and cheated by the authorities.”
The dean C Babu, and registrar in-charge K Subrahmaniyan, of TNAU, did not respond to TNIE’s calls for a clarification.
