Chennai: Death of a 24-year-old student of the government fine arts college in Chennai in his native village in Vellore district triggered protests in Egmore on Thursday.
P. Prakash, a native of Adugamparai was found hanging in a roadside tree at Konamedu in Vellore taluk police limits.
Prakash had left a suicide note and also sent video messages on WhatsApp and Facebook to his brother and friends in which he had blamed his head of department in college for harassing him.
On Thursday, hundreds of students of the fine arts college staged a sit in protest in the college and a few of them outside demanding action against the college authorities whom they alleged were responsible for Prakash’s suicide.
In the video message, Prakash had stated that though he wanted to continue his studies, the HoD (Ravikumar) would not allow him to complete the course and alleged that he was targeted by the staff who humiliated him in front of his classmates on several occasions for the last one and half years. “HoD sir will not allow me to complete the course as he thinks that I created problems and ashamed him. So, he will torture me indirectly,’’ the suicide note read.
Family members alleged that the principal turned a blind eye towards Prakash’s complaints. Prakash stopped attending classes for the last two weeks while maintaining to his parents that he was going to the college. Prakash also mentioned that the HoD questioned about his personal issues, his faith and religion and that he was isolated.
According to police, he uploaded a video message and the suicide note on his Facebook account. On seeing this, one of his friends contacted his mother and alerted her at about 3.40 pm on Wednesday. The students called off the strike after senior police officers pacified them.
