The judicial panel headed by Justice (retired) A Hariprasad to look into the mysterious death of J S Siddharthan, a second-year student of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, in Wayanad has found major lapses on part of former vice chancellor of the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU).
The report of Justice (Retd) A Hariprasad Commission, that was submitted to the Governor on Tuesday noted the lapses on the part of the then Vice Chancellor and Dean M K Narayanan in preventing the alleged ragging in the university men’s hostel that resulted in Sidharthan’s death. The Commission said that the Vice Chancellor cannot shirk his responsibility in the incident merely on the ground that nobody promptly informed him about it.
The Commission also found that two incidents of ragging had happened in the varsity campus during the stint of the then Vice Chancellor and blamed him for not being “vigilant and proactive”.
The Commission report stated that the Dean had failed in discharging his duties as warden of the hostel where Siddharthan was found hanging on February 18. The report said the Dean (Warden) should have seen that Siddharthan was dead by the time he reached the hostel and should have waited for the law enforcing agency to act.
The report further says that Assistant warden also failed in his duties to enforce discipline in the men’s hostel.Senior students were ruling the roost in the hostel and the Assistant Warden did not care to visit the rooms to find out the unruly behavior of students in the hostel.
The Commission also found that some faculty members who were at the helm of the university administration were not interested in staying at the varsity headquarters in Pookode, Wayanad. This had led to lack of efficiency in management and led to anarchy, the report said and recommended that remedial measures should be taken.
The Commission found that political activity in the campus was not the main reason for Siddharthan’s death. The Commission report observes that the cruelty meted out to Siddharthan in the campus was not connected to student politics. However, the report says that political activism in the campus, that too by one organisation with the strength of external support, could be a reason to downplay the gravity of the offence and to provide help to accused persons and shield them from the clutches of law.
“In the present case, the Commission does not find any reason to connect the incident of cruelty meted out to Sidharthan to student politics. Therefore the Commission does not find that political activity on the campus was the main reason for the unfortunate incident. Nonetheless, political activism in the campus, that too by one organisation with the strength of external support, could be a reason to downplay the gravity of the offence and to provide help to accused persons and shield them from the clutches of law,” the Commission report said.
Sidharthan’s father, Jayaprakash, welcomed the judicial commission’s findings.
The body of Siddharhan (20), was found hanging inside the bathroom of his hostel on February 18 allegedly after physical and mental torture by senior students. . The post-mortem report indicated that he had been brutally tortured and deprived of food for many days. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge-sheet stated that the brutal torture by the accused resulted in his death.