Kottayam: The students of Amal Jyothi College of Engineering, Kanjirappally, withdrew their protest on Wednesday.
The students agreed to wrap up the protests following an assurance by Minister for Higher Education R Bindu that the crime branch of the police will investigate the death of a student by suicide at the educational institution.
“The college will reopen on Monday,” the Minister said.
The probe will be supervised by the superintendent of police. The management has promised to take action against the accused staff members if the investigation finds that they had a role in the suicide of the student, a source who attended the talks told Onmanorama.
It has also been decided that the management will not go ahead with any disciplinary action against the students who protested.
The college's internal grievances system will be strengthened. The students, if needed, will also be given counselling, the sources said.
The students had launched a massive protest against the management of the college following the suicide of a female student due to alleged institutional harassment.
Minister R Bindu and Minister for Cooperation V N Vasavan held talks with the representatives of the college management and protesting students in Kanjirappally TB on Wednesday.
The discussions were aimed at finding a solution to the demands raised by the students following the death of Sradha Satheesh (20), a second-year food technology student, a statement from Minister Bindu's office said.
Minister R Bindu on Tuesday criticised self-financing colleges in the state for imposing strict rules on campuses. She was reacting to the controversy over the suicide of Sradha. “Colleges should not be so immature. Students have been facing too much pressure due to discipline and moral policing in colleges,” the minister said.
It is alleged that the student died by suicide after facing harassment from her teachers. The management on Tuesday decided to shut the institution indefinitely and asked the students to vacate hostels. However, the agitated students refused to vacate the hostels and decided to continue the protest on campus.
They also alleged that police used unnecessary force against the students at the behest of the management.
The students have demanded to remove the hostel warden and head of the food technology department from their posts.
On Monday, the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the students' wing of the ruling CPM in Kerala, marched to the private engineering college to protest the alleged suicide of the student.
Shraddha, a resident of Ernakulam, was found hanging inside her hostel room on June 2. Students have alleged that the college authorities took her to the hospital saying she fell unconscious.
Police had stopped the SFI march at the gate of the college but the students managed to overpower the security cordon and enter the premises where they staged a sit-in inside the office building.
The college management said they do not know why the student committed such an act. Police said they have registered a case and a probe is on.
