After student death that rocked Kerala, veterinary college in Wayanad remains tense

The police have identified 18 students as accused in the case, with charges framed under IPC sections related to abetment of suicide, wrongful restraint, and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means, as well as sections of the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act. With the arrest of seven people on Saturday, police have now nabbed all 18 accused in the case.

The incident has put a spotlight on the college, where the SFI is alleged to be running a parallel court to deal with the complaints of students. The men’s hostel has 130 residents – all students in second year and above. First-years, both boys and girls, are housed outside the campus due to lack of space in the hostels.

A member of the college anti-ragging committee said what happened to Sidharthan was not ragging, but a “mob trial”.

“The victim is a second-year student, and a few of the accused are his own classmates. Others are seniors. Half of this academic year has elapsed and there is no question of ragging at this stage. What happened at the campus is a mob trial and attack,” he said.

A faculty member echoed these views, saying, “One cannot expect ragging at this stage. This is a public trial and attack by a gang involving SFI.”

SFI state president P M Arsho said the organisation had sacked four of its members who were arrested in connection with the case. “There is a deliberate attempt to give political colour to issues among students. We do not give any protection to activists involved in such unfortunate incidents. A detailed probe should be held into the suicide of the student, and all accused persons should be brought to book,” he said.

According to students, the SFI unit in the college has been taking up issues between students and pronouncing decisions. “All issues between the students reach the SFI unit, where they take decisions. Nobody would question or oppose those decisions,” a student said on condition of anonymity.

Sidharthan’s family has alleged that he was put on ‘trial’ and tortured because he danced with senior women students at the college on Valentine’s Day.

A day after his death, the college got a complaint in which allegations were made about Sidharthan’s conduct on Valentine’s Day. However, the timing of the complaint – coming after his death – has raised questions about the motive behind it, and police have dismissed it.

Police sub-divisional officer in Wayanad’s Kalpetta, T N Sajeev, who is heading the investigation into the incident, said: “There was no such incident (as described in the complaint) on Valentine’s Day. From the versions of the arrested accused, we understand that a girl student of the college had, on Valentine’s Day, told her colleague about an old incident (involving Sidharthan)… The friend then broached the matter with other students, leading to the intervention of the accused (leaders of the SFI unit in the college).”

He said such a complaint had not reached any authorities, including the police, before Sidharthan’s death.

A source privy to the statements given by students regarding the incidents that culminated in Sidharthan’s death said the accused had summoned him to the campus with a clear plan.

On February 15, Sidharthan had left campus to spend the next couple of days at his home in Thiruvananthapuram. However, according to the source, he had to cut his journey short and return to campus after being summoned by the accused.

“There were altercations between Sidharthan and others after he got back to the campus on February 16. Later, the gang took him to the top of a hill near the hostel for further questioning. The brutal assault took place later at the inner courtyard of the hostel and in another room. He was stripped in front of others, including juniors… He was also thrashed with a belt,” the college source said.

His postmortem report said findings were “consistent with death due to hanging”. It also said Sidharthan had “sustained multiple blunt injuries, including tramline contusion of 2-3 days on the body suggestive of assault”. Tramline contusion occurs when the skin is struck by a rod or rectangular-sectioned object.

While seeking custody of the arrested, police told a local court that of the 18 accused, all except one had tortured Sidharthan. They said he was “subjected to torture (from February 16) till 2 am, the next day. He was kicked, slapped and beaten with a belt and a cable.” They also said that the acts of the accused would have left Sidharthan feeling that he had no option but death.

The postmortem report had also found that Sidharthan’s stomach was empty at the time of death. A source said, “We came to know that classmates had asked him to eat, but Sidharthan refused. He was dejected over the trial, the torture and the humiliations he was put through in front of other students. He did not attend phone calls from his family. At the same time, the gang of assailants had kept a close tab on him and had put students to observe him.”

After his death, police registered an FIR for unnatural death based on the statement of a classmate, who had said, “He (Sidharthan) hanged himself due to mental woes. There are no other doubts about his death. He hanged himself.”

It was when the postmortem report showed that Sidharthan had suffered several injuries before he died due to hanging, that the police added multiple charges to the FIR and booked the accused.

As the fallout of the incident snowballed in Kerala, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday suspended the vice-chancellor of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, under which the Wayand college comes.