Kochi: In the case of the suicide of a veterinary student of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU), the Kerala High Court quashed an order by the university expelling and debarring 19 accused students on Thursday. The high court ordered the university to conduct a fresh inquiry into the student’s death after issuing a memo of charges to the students outlining the allegations against them in accordance with the principles of natural justice, Onmanorama reported.
The university had debarred the students from applying for admission to any other college for three years.
The deceased student Sidharthan was found dead at the Pookode campus of the University in Wayanad on February 18, 2024. The 20-year-old second-year student’s dead body was found inside the bathroom of the men’s hostel. Following the findings of the anti-ragging squad in the institution that the deceased was subjected to brutal ragging, the university took the mentioned actions, while police charged them with multiple offences, including abetment to suicide. Also, the student’s autopsy report suggested that he endured severe abuse and assault and was left without food for days in the hostel.
The court said, “Disposed of quashing the impugned orders, all the three reports to the extent it apply to the petitioners. The University is directed to conduct a fresh inquiry after furnishing a memo of charges to the petitioners, specifying individual allegations against each of them and furnishing them the gist of the statement of witnesses requiring the petitioners to submit a written explanation for the same. However, the statement of witnesses need not be recorded afresh, and the gist of such statement regarding the involvement of petitioners shall be furnished to the petitioners without revealing the identity of the witnesses….petitioners shall be re-admitted to the college by permitting them to continue studies on the campus subject to the final outcome of the inquiry… If the petitioners are found guilty, the period of punishment that they have already undergone will have to be adjusted against the penalty to be imposed. The inquiry shall be completed within four months,” Onmanorama quoted.