Students of a law college in Kerala have been protesting demanding removal of their principal.
Students of a private law college in Kerala's capital has been protesting for nearly three weeks now, demanding the resignation of their principal, alleging that she abused them over their castes.
A case has been filed against Lakshmi Nair, who is also the host of a popular cookery show in a regional channel, after the State Human Rights Commission intervened on the basis of a petition filed by students.
"We were taken to the principal's new hotel and were made to clean tables on the inauguration day and serve people biryani for 2 to 3 hours," alleged K Selvam, student from a backward class. Another student Aishwarya Rani said, "Just because principal owns the college, she thinks she can do anything to us because of our internal marks and attendance is in her hands."
The students say they began the protest after the suicide of a first year engineering student Jishnu Prannay on January 6 in another private engineering college in Thrissur. The suicide led to the suspension of three college authorities. Later, there was an outpour of similar complaints from across the state.
Rubbishing the allegations against the college Kerala Law Academy, Ms Nair told NDTV, "This is a strike for strike. These are just 200 odd students. Rest of the students are not even joining them. These allegations are baseless and only because I am a strict principal. I myself am shocked by the allegations and have asked for police protection."
Meanwhile, the students protest in Thiruvananthapuram has found full political backing with the BJP and Congress mounting pressure on the CPM-led government to take action. While a BJP state leader V Muraleedharan has announced on a "fast unto death", demanding the removal of the Principal, a Congress legislator has threatened to sit on a hunger strike too if the issue is not resolved soon.