Student found dead in varsity hostel

A 24yearold doctoral student from Odisha was found dead in the hostel of the Central University of Kerala on Tuesday afternoon.

The police said Ruby Patel, 24, a PhD scholar from Bargarh Salepali, Odisha, was found dead hanging in the hostel's bathroom around noon. Ruby was pursuing studies in Hindi and Comparative Literature. The Bekal police transferred the body to the Kanhangad district hospital mortuary. The police suspect that academic pressure and psychological issues could be the reasons for the student taking the extreme step.

This is the second instance of a student taking own life in the college hostel in recent months. Last month, Nidish Yadav, 28, a secondsemester MEd student from Gazipur, Uttar Pradesh, was found dead hanging in the hostel.

‘Appoint psychologist’

Against this backdrop, student organisations have raised strong objections to the the university’s perceived lack of intervention and failure to appoint a psychologist on a permanent basis. “The university had appointed a psychologist on a temporary basis. For the past eight months, there was no psychologist in the university and the students council had been demanding that the university appoint one on a permanent basis considering the problems faced by students,” said University Students Council president A. Sreehari.

(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the Kerala's health helpline 104, Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline Maithri 04842540530, Thanal Suicide Prevention Centre 04952760000 and Direct Intervention System for Health Awareness (DISHA) 1056)