An uneasy calm prevailed on the Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU) campus with the varsity management declaring holidays in the wake of the suspicious death of first-year architecture student, M. Rishiteswari. A native of Warangal in Telangana, Ms. Rishiteswari allegedly committed suicide unable to bear harassment by some seniors on July 14.
The campus was a scene of deserted roads, empty classrooms, police vehicles and vacant grounds on Monday. Even as the students unions and political parties are raising a hue and cry over ragging at ANU, the government declared á vacation of 10 days and asked students to vacate the hostels.
Students who had not yet gone home hung about at wayside cafes around the campus discussing the case, Some of them said teasing and harassment were not new at ANU. “Though there were incidents of ragging on campus earlier, the management suppressed them by appointing internal committees,” one student said.
One parent who was at the campus to take his daughter home wondered how the university management did not follow the norms to prevent ragging and failed to keep a vigil on hostels, particularly during the beginning of the academic year.
