Case against principal for casteist remarks

trivandrum — As pressure mounts on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has so far not broken his silence on the protests by Kerala Law Academy students, police on Monday registered a case against Principal Lekshmi Nair on a complaint by a student about casteist remarks made by her against him. The united protest by the students reached its 20th day on Monday, demanding Lekshmi Nair’s resignation due to her unbecoming behaviour and alleged nepotism.

According to informed sources, Vijayan who also holds the Home portfolio, is unhappy about the manner in which the academy management led by its Director and Lekshmi Nair’s father Narayanan Nair is behaving, even after huge public protests.

Vijayan had on Sunday directed state CPM Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to call up the Director and his brother Koliyokode Krishnan Nair — a three time CPM former legislator.

After they said that Lekshmi Nair’s resignation will not be possible, the Chief Minister called up Krishnan Nair and told him strongly that the principal has to step down.

The registering of the police case indicates that Vijayan now means business as three complaints by students against the principal were given days back but the police failed to act.

Former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Monday countered his party Secretary Balakrishnan’s statement that the stir at the academy is just a student protest and nothing else. “It’s not a student protest, it is a public issue and the state government must act and not succumb to the powerful,” he told reporters here.

Meanwhile, the health of former state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President V. Muraleedharan, who is on indefinite hunger strike over the issue, deteriorated. —