Thalassery sessions court, which on Saturday, granted bail to the second accused Dr Sangeetha Nambiar and denied Dr M Kodanda Ram’s plea in the case related to the suicide of Kannur Dental College student Nithin Raj has cited flaws in investigation and in framing the charges.    

The court, which blamed ‘excessive media trial’ in the case,  did not find any evidence to charge Dr Ram under the sections pertaining to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act). It also quizzed the circumstances in which Dr Sangeetha Nambiar was made an accused in the case.

Additional Sessions Judge-4, Vimal J, considered the case diary and statements of three witnesses (college students) and noted that the materials available indicated harsh, insulting and improper conduct on the part of Dr Ram but it was not caste-targeted humiliation. 

In their statements, the students had said that Dr Ram was in the habit of insulting and humiliating students. When textbooks were not brought to the classroom, he would impose a fine, and he had a habit of knocking the heads of students. 

On March 13, there was an altercation between Nithin and Dr Ram in the class. Dr Ram made the class representative read the answer sheet of Nithin. Dr Ram said that the answer sheet was rubbish, however the situation escalated when Dr Ram verbally abused Nithin calling him the ‘worst dog’. Nithin then retorted saying he didn’t wish to study in the college.

The court, however, observed, “There was no whisper of a statement from any witness to the effect that Dr Ram used caste slurs or casteist remarks to target Nithin. The statements also reveal that he did not specifically target Nithin. There is nothing on record to indicate that the verbal abuse by Dr Ram was motivated solely by the fact that Nithin belonged to a Scheduled Caste,” the Judge said in the order. 

The court also wondered why Dr Sangeetha was arraigned as an accused in the case. As per the complaint, when Dr Ram asked Nithin to write the Dental Anatomy examination, Dr Sangeetha informed that it was possible for him to attend the exam. The court said it was at a loss to understand as to how asking a student to write an examination would amount to caste abuse. “ This statement, by any stretch of imagination, would not amount to caste abuse. She was implicated merely because Nithin’s father Rajan said in his complaint that he suspects Dr Sangeetha of abetting Nithin’s suicide,” the order noted.

The court said that caste discrimination was not the cause of Nithin’s suicide. He committed suicide on account of the fact that he was called into the Principal’s room and interrogated by his teachers. “He was in deep distress on account of this interrogation and the fact that the cyber police were going to register a complaint against him,” the court said.

The police probing the case have so far arrested three loan app operators. The court took into account statements of Dr Bhagyasree, the Assistant Professor of the Department of Anatomy and of Principal Vinod Mony which revealed that Dr Latha, another Assistant Professor received consistent threatening calls from the loan app operators. She had received a WhatsApp message from the loan app showing that her reference number was given to the loan app by Nithin. 

The case records further showed that he had taken a loan of ₹15,000. On April 10, Dr Latha, along with Dr Bhagyasree went to the Principal’s room and informed about the threat calls. Nithin admitted that he had taken the loan. When the Principal called his father, he said that the loan was taken without informing the parents. 

According to the case records, the Principal raised his voice and directed Nithin to remove Dr Latha’s number. When app operators refused to remove her number, Dr Latha said she had no option but to give a cyber complaint. She informed Nithin that she was sorry but she was constrained to approach the police. He exited the Principal’s room and committed suicide.

The court said that the custodial interrogation of Dr Ram is essential for the smooth progress of the investigation. Advocate M Kishor Kumar, counsel of Dr Ram, said that he was falsely implicated in the case with an ulterior motive, but the court did not consider this. It found substance in the contention that there has been excessive media trial in the case and noted that the media cannot prejudge a person as guilty. 

Nithin, a first-year BDS student, committed suicide on April 10 at about 1.38 pm.