Kerala - Kottayam   

SFI agitation at SME turns violent

Staff Reporter

Parent-teacher meeting organised at the school ends up in chaos

KOTTAYAM : The agitation by the Students Federation of India (SFI) at the School of Medical Education (SME) on Thursday turned violent and the parent teacher meeting organised at the school ended up in disorder.

The SME, which is in the centre of a controversy over ragging and alleged sexual assault on a first year student, reopened after a gap of 10 days. The authorities had insisted that students who reached the campus should be accompanied by their parents for a parent-teacher meeting. The SFI activists had already gathered at the gates making it clear that they would not allow the principal and the director who had been implicated in the case to enter the campus.

While the two did not turn up, students turned violent alleging that one of the girl students who had held a press conference against the victim of the alleged ragging incident had entered the campus.

The report turned out to be a rumour, but the students by that time had entered the premises where the parent teacher meeting was being held. They hurled chairs at the participants and created an unruly scene. The agitating students were removed by the police.

In another development, director of SME K. N. Muraledharan Nair who surrendered before the Ettumanur First Class Judicial Magistrate, was granted bail.

Meanwhile, local MLA Thomas Chazhikkadan said the indents at the SME had pointed to the need to have a review of the functioning of the self-financing professional institutions. Though there were stringent laws against ragging, the authorities had miserably failed to implement them, he pointed out. The root cause of the indent was that those responsible for the discipline had failed in their duty, he said. No one should be spared in such instances.

He also said that the university authorities too had failed in taking necessary precautionary steps in averting such incidents. Most of the faculty at the self-financing institutions were contract appointees or guest faculty. Whether the university had followed the qualification and other formalities stipulated by the concerned regulatory bodies, should be looked into, he said.

According to him, though the university was meeting a large share of its expenses from the income generated by institutions like the SME, they had not taken necessary measures to ensure basic facilities for the students. The need of the hour was to ensure justice for the victim and also her continued education in a peaceful atmosphere.

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SFI agitation at SME turns violent

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