The students of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Silchar campus on Monday took out a passive protest following the death of a student by suicide inside the campus.
Since the incident came to light, several sections of the student fraternity have been quick to blame the dean of academics, Binoy Krishna Roy for the death.
Demanding either the removal or resignation of the dean over the student suicide case, several thousand students sat for a passive protest.
The protest inside the campus will carry on for an indefinite period of time, mentioned students, adding that only the resignation of the dean will end their protest.
Addressing reporters, a student leader said, "He died by suicide on September 15. We all believe that he had to take this extreme step due to extreme academic pressure and mental pressure. In the immediate hours after the incident, the NIT Silchar administration should have come forward and assured the students that such an incident would not happen again. However, what transpired is something that the students could never have imagined. This has led to us coming out for peaceful protests. Our first demand is that the academic dean, against whom the allegations have surfaced, should immediately resign from his position. The institute should hand the matter over for proper investigation. The insensitive and inhuman statements coming from the administration against the victim, Koj Bukar, are appalling. They should immediately retract their statements and ensure help is made available to his family, in terms of financial aid, or security, or legal support. We are all afraid. We know that whoever has joined us stand to face disciplinary actions. Yet, we want justice for Koj and have come out in his support. We would urge the administration to not punish us. An external high-level committee should be formed including students who convene to bring about the required change so that such academic pressure does not force another student to choose suicide over life."
Another student said, "After his demise, there was no person from the administration to answer our queries. We want their answers now, as to why they did not show up. Their response that this is a small matter, is unwelcomed and we demand an apology. We are also demanding the resignation of the dean of academics. All the students here want answers, instead our statements are being taken and twisted and used against us. Everyone here has gathered to demand justice for Koj. He had a lot of pressure on him with six backlogs. The dean is entirely responsible as he was not allowed the chance to lift his backlogs in the summer semester. Then he registered for third year. After a few days, he was told to re-register and sit with first year students. He was already continuing backlog classes with first year students. Such sort of academic pressure is too much for students. He had taken his request to the dean after which his application was torn and thrown at his face. Soon after, he came back to his room and died by suicide. We want justice for that."
Meanwhile, the All Cachar Karimganj Hailakandi Students Association (ACKHSA) also strongly criticized the NIT Silchar administration for the recent disorderly incident at the engineering institute in the Barak Valley region today. They claimed that the institution has become a hub for students to engage in substance abuse instead of concentrating on their studies.
It may be noted that a heated situation prevailed over the recent suicide death of an electrical department student at the NIT Silchar campus at night on September 16.
An electrical department student identified as Koj Bukar allegedly committed suicide. The body was found hanging under suspicious circumstances from a window inside the NIT hostel campus. It came to the fore that the said engineering student had a backlog on several subjects from his first semester and therefore, the NIT authorities did not allow him to register for the third year until he cleared his backlogs. Following this, the student decided to meet NIT Academic Dean BK Roy seeking help on the matter. But, his concerns were not taken into consideration.
The agitated students pelted stones at police personnel and vandalized the government quarter and vehicles including the private vehicle of NIT’s academic Dean BK Roy.
The police had to resort to a lathi charge to control the situation. Several students as well as police were injured in the incident.
Speaking to the media, Cachar District Commissioner (DC) Rohan Kumar Jha said, “At around 6.30 pm we came to know about the unfortunate suicide incident at the NIT premises. Accordingly, our magistrates and police personnel visited the spot. Later, I and Cachar Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta also joined. We found the student's behavior very unruly. Nearly four cars were vandalized, of which two cars were owned by the professors against whom allegations are being raised for the alleged suicide incident at the campus; other cars are of NIT Registrar and one media person. The unruly students also vandalized the government quarter of Dean BK Roy inside the campus. It’s very unfortunate and shameful.”
The DC also informed that they tried to negotiate with the agitated students for nearly two to three hours. But it didn’t work!
“We assured them to form a committee to probe into the suicide incident, but, the way students behaved was very illegal. We urged to them not to resort to violence and asked them to protest peacefully,” added the DC Cachar.
Suicide Prevention Helpline: For help call: 9152987821. Services are available from Monday to Saturday from 10 AM to 8 PM. Languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, Kashmiri.
