HC to consider bail pleas in student’s death case

TRIVANDRUM: Kerala High Court (HC) will on Tuesday consider the bail applications of the defendants in a fellow student’s death at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Wayanad.

JS Sidharthan, 20, a veterinary science and animal husbandry undergraduate student, was found hanging from the ventilator of the university hotel’s toilet on Feb.18.

Though the police initially concluded it as a case of suicide, his family questioned this, citing circumstances suggesting murder.

The police arrested 20 students, including leaders of the Students Federation of India (SFI), a feeder outfit of the ruling Communist Party of India-marxist (CPI-M).

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the case under the family’s pressure, submitted its final report this week, listing 19 students as defendants.

The anti-ragging squad on the campus had reported to the police that he was subjected to brutal physical assault and public trial by his classmates and seniors.

The CBI report says they were agitated that Sidharthan misbehaved with a girl during the campus’s preparations for Valentine’s Day celebrations.

They called him to the hostel, questioned him regarding his alleged misbehaviour and brutally assaulted him.

They “physically assaulted” him “using a leather belt, cable wire of a glue gun, using their hands and legs.”

Sidharthan was forced to remove his pants and shirt and was made to remain in his underwear only.

He was forcefully confined in the room and was beaten.

“They forcibly took him in a partially naked state to the courtyard of the men’s hostel and continued to assault and humiliate him before everyone,” it says.

“They threatened Sidharthan that he would be socially isolated, which caused him severe mental trauma.”

They “committed criminal conspiracy to physically assault and humiliate Sidharthan, which took away his self-respect and dignity, leading to his suicide.”