In one of the most heart-wrenching scenes of recent times, a mother demanding justice for her son was dragged through the roads by the police at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
Mahija, mother of Jishnu Pranoy, a student at Nehru College of Engineering, who had committed suicide after being accused by the college authorities of cheating in an exam and being allegedly harassed mentally and physically.
The main accused in the case, P Krishna Das, chairman of Nehru Group of Institutions, had recently been granted bail by the court, stirring protests in the state. Mahija and her family were protesting in front of the DGP’s office at Thiruvananthapuram against releasing Das and other accused.
The autocratic administration of self-financed colleges in the state is a cause of great worry. They harass the students and often succeed in silencing them due to the lack of accountability and the authority they enjoy.
The Kerala Law Academy row is one of the many grave examples of the injustice faced by the students at the hands of self-financed colleges. It is also one of the finest examples in the recent times of the strength and ability of a united community to bring about change in our society.
Rarely do we see all student, individually and or with political organisations, come together to fight for their rights to peaceful education and for a college where they are not harassed or victimised but make of their own destiny.
This is not the first time India is witnessing such cruelty against protesters who demand justice. Rohit’s mother Radhika Vemula and Najeeb’s mother Fatima Nafees were dragged quite a few times through the streets of Delhi and Hyderabad by the police.
The support they have received is appreciable, but it was mainly from the students who were the friends and classmates of their sons. It’s sad to see a major part of our population turning a blind eye towards these incidents, just because they aren’t directly affected.
Why is it that we can’t extend love to our fellow citizens of the country or even our neighbours? None of us is safe in this anarchic society. Our dear ones too stand a chance to be victimised by the institutions.
Why do we wait and hesitate to lend our hands and raise our voices to help these mothers in tears? We must realise that their voices, echoes our own, of our sons and daughters, of our mothers and fathers.