Guwahati: A third-year student of NIT-Silchar allegedly died by suicide on the campus, following which his classmates began a protest that eventually turned violent, prompting the police to lathi charge, in which 40 people were injured, officials said on Saturday.
The body of the student, a native of Arunachal Pradesh, was found hanging in his hostel room on Friday evening. Alleging that he was forced to die by suicide because of the actions of the college authority, his classmates stopped the police from taking down the body.
Two hours later, as the police managed to send the body for post-mortem examination, the students began a demonstration in front of dean of academics BK Roy’s official residence on the campus.
They alleged that Roy had insulted the victim who got six backlogs in his first semester examination, which was held online in 2021 because of the pandemic.
Due to the lockdown, he was at home and failed to attend the online classes due to lack of internet connectivity, resulting in the backlog, they claimed.
He had appealed to the authorities to conduct a special examination so that he could clear the backlogs but Roy allegedly insulted him. Following this incident, he locked himself in his room and later his body was found hanging, they said.