Prasenjit Deb
A heated situation prevailed over the recent suicide death of an electrical department student at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus on Friday night.
The police had to resort to a lathi charge to control the situation. Several students as well as police were injured in the incident.
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.
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.
How Chaos Started?
DC Jha also mentioned that they were trying to resolve the issue by knowing their actual demands, while, some of the demands were baseless and it was difficult for the administration to fulfill.
“In the midst of the discussion, the agitated students started hurling water bottles at us. One of the water bottles directly hit SP Cachar at his nose. Prior to that when we were negotiating outside the house of NIT Dean’s BK Roy they manhandled us. We might have to take some harsh decisions if the situation worsens further,” added the DC.
The Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta on the other hand expressing his concern over the incident have informed that security have been beefed up at the NIT Silchar.
The police had also urged the NIT authorities to maintain peace and tranquility in the campus.
What went wrong at NIT Silchar?
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 has come to the fore that the said engineering student had a backlog on several subjects from his first semester and therefore, the NIT authorities didn’t allow him to register for the third year until he clears 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.
Owing to this, the student apparently decided to end his life, as per sources.
The incident had sparked uproar amongst the NIT students.
As many as 2,000 students came out at night and protested in front of the NIT administrative building in Silchar.
The situation deteriorated and the agitated students then gheraoed the government residence of NIT academic dean BK Roy and staged a protest.
The agitated students locked up his family members including Dean Roy inside the house and vandalized the government property.
The District Commissioner Rohan Kumar Jha and Superintendent of police Numal Mahatta immediately reached the spot with huge police and CRPF forces on receiving the news of the incident.
The students, however, created a ruckus by closing the gate in front of the government residence demanding the removal and arrest of the Dean.
The situation then went out of control. Following this, the administration decided to baton charge to disperse the students.
