A critical report of the anti-ragging squad regarding the suspected suicide death of JS Sidharth, a second-year student of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University campus at Pookode in Wayanad, has come to light.
The interim report of the anti-ragging squad reveals details of the brutal physical assault and public trial Sidharth faced at the hands of his batchmates and seniors on February 16, 17, and 18.
The report says that Sidharth was assaulted at four different places — the hilltop near the water tank in front of the men’s hostel, room number 21 on the first floor of the hostel, the hostel courtyard, and the corridor at the entrance of the dormitory. He was allegedly stripped down to his underwear after he was brought to the hostel. The report said that most of the 139 inmates witnessed this violence being unleashed upon him in the courtyard. Sidharth was found dead in a men’s hostel washroom on the college campus on the afternoon of February 18.
The anti-ragging squad had collected statements from as many as 97 students. A majority of the students chose to remain silent over the incident.
“All the students were awakened by knocking on their doors (to witness the assault). Many students watched how Sidharth was forced to apologise publicly for an alleged misbehaviour with a girl. A group of students shouted at him and beat him up. He was slapped, kicked and beaten with a belt and what appeared to be a charger cord of some electronic gadget,” the report said.
According to the report submitted to the UGC, the statements of the students were taken by the police in the presence of college authorities and therefore they could not reveal many things. It said that the names of many people, who allegedly assaulted Sidharth, have not been included in the police chargesheet.
The report said that as per the statements received during the inquiry, Sidharth had left the college campus for home on the night of February 15. As per a student’s deposition, Sidharth was on his way home when his batchmate Rehan Binoy and a few others called him, asking him to come back to the hostel.
The Vythiri police’s remand report had mentioned that a few batchmates and seniors had accused him of misbehaving with a female classmate during the Valentine’s Day celebration on campus on February 14. The remand report said that Rehan told Sidharth this issue could be settled as per the “unwritten rules” of the men’s hostel, rather than letting it become a police case. Accordingly, Sidharth reached the college campus around 8 am on February 16.
Upon his arrival, his batchmates Hashim V, Muhammad Dhanish M, Adithyan V, Saud Risal EK, Devarag Vijayan, Krishna Lal S, and Rehan took Sidharth to the hillock where he was beaten up, according to the anti-ragging squad report. These students were also present when Sidharth was later brought back to the hostel. Among them, Saud Risal, Adithyan, Dhanish, and Rehan have been named as the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th accused in the case, respectively.
As per the depositions of students, Sidharth was then subjected to physical assault by several students in room number 21 of the men’s hostel. Witnesses have confirmed the presence of at least 16 students there, including the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) college union president K Arun, SFI unit secretary Amal Ihsan, and unit members Asif Khan and S Abhishek. They have been named the fourth, seventh, sixth, and 15th accused in the case. The SFI — the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which heads the Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) — has expelled all four from the organisation.
Several witnesses informed the anti-ragging committee that Kashinadhan abused Sidharth and hit him with a belt several times. Sinjo was seen kicking Sidharth on his chest and back many times. He allegedly placed Sidharth’s fingers on the ground and crushed them with his foot, grabbed his neck and pressed him against steel, and slapped his body several times. Arun was seen lifting Sidharth from the floor and forcing him to wipe the water from the floor with a cloth.
The report said that apart from one student who saw Sidharth consuming a small amount of rice gruel on the morning of February 17, no one saw him eat anything else. Sidharth reportedly complained of throat pain to a few fellow students later on, who then suggested some medicines to alleviate his discomfort.
The report further said that on February 18 afternoon Sidharth was found missing in his room and was not responding to the knocks on the washroom door. One of the students, Sushanth Kumar, forcibly kicked open the washroom door, only to find him dead.
Two students reported that they heard Sinjo threatening students in the hostel that no information regarding what happened in the hostel should be passed on to anybody.
As per the recommendations of the anti-ragging squad, around 31 students of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences have been barred from studies. While 19 of them have been barred for three years, 12 have been barred for a year.
Meanwhile, noted Supreme Court lawyer and activist Prashanth Bhushan said that Sidharth’s death is a serious issue and illustrates the ‘gundagiri’ of the cadres of the SFI and the CPM in Kerala.
Speaking at the programme ‘Vote n Talk’ organised by the Ernakulam Press Club ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Prasanth Bhushan said it is unfortunate that the police do not act with the kind of alacrity with which they are expected to act.
“It is unfortunate that the police do not act with the kind of alacrity with which they must act. Unfortunately, this is a unique problem I am witnessing in this state. The CPM and its cadres have been violating the rule of law, which is the same thing we are seeing at the Centre, where mobs are given a free hand to do whatever they want to do. It is now being seen in Kerala how the cadres of the CPM and the SFI treat other people. This must be stopped,” Prasanth Bhushan said.