Students rally behind teachers arrested in strip-search case

CHENNAI: Students of the Dr MGR-Janaki Arts and Science College for Women boycotted classes on Monday, demanding the release of four teachers who have been arrested on charges of abetting the suicide of a student.
The 21-year-old student, K Divya, who had allegedly been strip searched by her teachers on January 29 as they suspected her of stealing a fellow students' money, committed suicide on February 1.In a suicide note addressed to her teachers, she had said that she was committing suicide as she had felt humiliated.
Her classmates, however, said that Divya had neither been strip-searched nor been singled out. "A girl had lost Rs 3,000 and all the students sitting on the same bench as hers were searched and Divya was one of them. None of them were stripped," said R Nandhini, a B Com student who was part of the protest.
The students said that if humiliation had been the cause of the suicide, Divya would have taken the extreme step on January 29 instead of February 1. "She came to college on January 31 and on February 1. It was only on 1st evening that she committed suicide. It was reported that her friends had made fun of her but no such thing happened," said Nandhini.
"We have lost four of our good teachers because of this incident. We want them to be given bail and come back to college to teach us. That is why we have decided to protest," said K Aarthi, another B Com student. The college, which was closed last week following the death of Divya, reopened on Monday but no classes could be held because of the boycott. The students also said that if the teachers were not released, they would be forced to take their protest to the streets.
Police protection had been provided for the college on Monday to prevent students from coming on to the streets. "The strike is expected to continue tomorrow and we do not want any untoward incidents to happen," said R Prabhakaran, special branch, CID.
Managing trustee of the college M Rajendran however denied that there was a strike and said that an appeal for bail had been filed and the teachers would be released once the court decided on the matter. "The teachers will be released, as they had only checked the bags of the students and Divya seemed normal even after the incident," he said.
(Names of students have been changed to protect privacy)