In a tragic incident, a first-year student at Chennai’s Satyabhama University allegedly committed suicide after being humiliated by staff. The deceased, Ragamonika, was caught cheating in an examination on Wednesday and was insulted by the invigilator. The girl later went to the hostel and ended her life by hanging herself. The deceased was identified as Ragamonika Reddy, a native of Hyderabad. The girl was a first-year computer science student. Her body has been sent to the Royapettah Government Hospital for post-mortem.
Following news of her death, students protested demanding justice for Ragamonika. Satyabhama university campus reportedly went on a rampage after the incident. Students set afire hostel properties and resorted to vandalism. The protests were initiated by Ragamonica’s batchmates and soon it turned into arson. “They burnt stuff outside first-year men’s hostel. Then they burnt a tree. None of the buildings was damaged, I think. At 11.00 pm also there is a huge crowd outside the college gate.” said a student. “By 7.30pm on Wednesday, the protests soon spiralled into violence and arson. When the violence began, most students ran out of the hostel”, he added. Fire officials have reportedly said that the students had set fire to some beds in their hostel, and even pelted stones on the fire brigade’s vehicles. Firefighters brought the blaze under control, and a police team is now conducting investigations. Over 300 students were reportedly involved in the act in the Satyabhama university campus. Around 200 police personnel are deployed at the university campus to bring the situation back to normalcy.
Meanwhile, after the violence and arson incident on the campus in Chennai’s Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan said that the situation is under control. The semester exams have been postponed and the students have been asked to leave the hostel.
This is the second suicide in less than a month in the Tamil Nadu capital. In October, 24-year-old Prakash, a final year student of the Government College of Fine Arts, committed suicide by hanging himself in Vellore alleging harassment by a college faculty. Prakash left a suicide note on his Facebook account. In the note, he alleged that he was being tortured by his head of the department. Prakash had also left a video in which he said he wanted to do well but feared that the HoD at the college would not allow him to complete the course.