'Harassed' student attempts suicide

Lecturers used Internal assessment marks to threaten them, alleges ABVP

A first year student of the Government Tool Room and Training Centre (GTTC) at Lingasugur of Raichur district attempted suicide by consuming rat poison and 75 capsules on the college campus on Tuesday.

Depressed over alleged harassment by lecturers, K Pavan Veeranahagowda took the extreme step as soon as he entered the campus at 8.30 am, even as other students watched him in horror.

Before he collapsed, Pavan said he was not able to bear the harassment meted out to him by the lecturers and that his death should be a lesson for them. He was immediately rushed to the district hospital in Raichur, said some students.

Pavan is said to be responding to treatment and his condition is stable, said the sources at the hospital.

The students said since the time he joined the college, Pavan was complaining about the torture by the lecturers.

His senior students would counsel him and send him to classes. They said almost all the students had similar experiences.

Of the total 110, only 84 have now been attending the classes and the rest have dropped out, they said. Even the 84 students were planning to seek transfer to other colleges as they faced problems due to lack of co-ordination between the principal and the lecturers.

The students alleged that the lecturers lacked experience and did not conduct classes regularly.

Instead of the regular college days, they conducted classes on Saturdays and Sundays, causing inconvenience to the students, a majority of whom hailed from far-off rural areas.

They said the lecturers have not completed the syllabus even seven months after the academic year, began. The senior students help their juniors with lessons and examinations, they added.

The students who did not obey the lecturers or raised even a feeble voice of protest would be treated harshly and threatened that  their internal marks for the projects, assignments and experiments would be deducted.

“Internal marks have become a weapon for lecturers to torture the students and harass them sexually,” said Chandrashekhar Patil, leader of the Akhila Bharat Vidyarthi Parishat, who spoke to the students on the college campus.

He said protests would be held if the problems are not set right and the students are not treated properly.