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Thiruvananthapuram: A student's suicide in Kerala state has touched off a controversy over the manner of functioning of private self-financing colleges.
The tragic end of a girl student of the Mar Athanasius College for Advanced Studies at Tiruvalla led to violent protests by the Students Federation of India (SFI) activists on Tuesday, who blamed the college authorities for the incident.
Sumi Surendran, a 23-year-old Master of Computer Applications student, took her life by hanging herself after cutting a vein on her arm at her home near Chavara in Kollam district.
She is believed to have taken the extreme step after being distressed over the theft of her laptop computer to buy which she had faced considerable financial difficulty.
Police recovered suicide notes which reportedly blamed the college authorities for adopting an "unhelpful attitude" after she complained to them about the theft of her laptop from her hostel room.
Humane behaviour
A suicide note reportedly says that instead of helping her recover the laptop, the college authorities were blaming her for the incident.
The college authorities, however, have denied any role in the episode. College principal Rev Abraham Mulamoottil said the authorities had inquired into the incident. They authorities claimed they had behaved humanely to her, and denied the allegations in her suicide note.
Valsala, the student's mother , was at home when the incident occurred. Her father Surendran and brother Suresh are working abroad. SFI students staged a protest march that turned violent when students attacked the college administrative block and vandalised the principal's office. Furniture and glass panes were broken and telephone equipment destroyed in the college building, who demanded that the police register a case against the college authorities.
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