Minister calls on family of student who committed 'suicide'

Kerala Education Minister C Raveendranath today visited the family of a student whose alleged suicide in hostel has triggered protests and assured of stern action.
In a related development, engineering colleges attached to the Kerala Self Financing Engineering College Managements Association remained closed today protesting the attack on its headquarters in Kochi yesterday by a group of students.
A day after the LDF government announced a solatium of Rs ten lakh to the family of 18-year old Jishnu, a computer science student of Nehru College of Engineering at Pambady in Thrissur district, Raveendranath met the parents of the boy in their house at Valayam near Vadakara in Kozhikode district.

Jishnu was found hanging in the hostel bathroom last week with the fellow students alleging that college authorities had harassed him after he was caught for 'copying' in an examination.
The Minister termed the student's death 'very unfortunate' and said the government would ensure that such incidents do not recur.
"It is very unfortunate. The government will take stern actionagainst those responsible for the incident and ensure that such incidents do not recur", he told reporters.

He also assured all possible help to the family.
Protesting the attack on the headquarters of the association, a total of 120 private colleges, affiliated to it, remained closed across the state.

A group of students, under the banner of Congress-affiliated Kerala Students Union (KSU), had yesterday allegedly went on a rampage in the association office, smashing its doors and windows.
Earlier, a march took out by students of the Nehru college had turned violent in recently as a section of them went on a rampage in the campus, damaging property.