NIT Silchar: Student's alleged suicide leads to protests; police step in

A student's death at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Silchar in Assam's Cachar district has created a tense situation. There was a physical altercation between students of the institute and the police. Later, the police had to use force to disperse the crowd, and the situation is said to be tense still, as per IANS report.

A student from the institution was found to be dead in the college hostel on Friday night, September 15 and according to the police, the student was from Arunachal Pradesh. The student was enrolled in the third semester of the Electric Engineering course at the institution and had allegedly hanged himself after failing his exams, being unable to clear his back papers.

It is reported that the student had asked the college administration for permission to enroll for the following semester, but was apparently denied, claimed the protestors.

The police said that emotions were high on the campus as there was an uproar regarding the situation. The students are said to have also besieged the registrar's official apartment late on Friday night.

Rohan Kumar Jha, the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar, said that the dean's official residence was broken into and cars were vandalised, but the police are in the process of negotiating with them and if the situation does not improve, the district administration will take the necessary steps.

An emergency meeting was held between Cachar district officials, police, and NIT Silchar administration to discuss the current situation. They stated that the prestigious institution might stay closed till the situation is under control.

Students agitated over new rules
With the recent introduction of a few rules, the college students were furious over it. The students claim that they were peacefully demonstrating when the police charged at them with batons.

"Our student, our senior, committed suicide, and we were peacefully protesting, but the NIT Silchar administration didn't even bother to stop by and speak to us. They lathi-charged us and unleashed the police on us,” a protesting student said.

NIT's director speaks
Dilip Kumar Baidya, Director of NIT Silchar said that the death of the student occurred in the evening and the authority acted without any delay. He also stated that there were pre-existing issues with the student as he had a backlog since the beginning of the first year and had backlogs hence, could not move with his batch and this may have created a sense of disappointment in him.

“There are some resentments among the students, which are on a case-by-case basis and we are looking into it,” he added.