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Tamil Nadu college suspends student for celebrating Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary without permission
S Malathi, a first-year student of masters in history at the Government College of Arts, organised the event in campus though she had been denied permission to hold it. The event was held on September 28 and she was suspended on October 1
A college student in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore has been suspended for celebrating freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary on the charge of disturbing peace in the campus.
S Malathi, a first-year student of masters in history at the Government College of Arts, organised the event in campus though she had been denied permission to hold it. The event was held on September 28 and she was suspended on October 1.
The matter came to the fore only after Malathi protested her continued suspension and spoke to the media.
“Even without conducting an inquiry and issuing a prior notice, the college principal has suspended me. The principal is saying that I have disturbed the peace. I don’t know what is wrong in celebrating a freedom fighter’s birthday,” Malathi said.
Bhagat Singh was born in Banga village of Lyallpur district (now Faisalabad in Pakistan) on September 28, 1907. He was 23 when the British hanged him in 1931 for his involvement in the Lahore conspiracy case, along with Sukhdev Thapar and Shiv Ramhari Rajguru.
“As a student of history, I asked principal K Chitra to grant the permission for celebrating the birthday of Bhagat Singh. But, she directed me to obtain it from the head of the department of history. When I approached my HOD, he denied permission to hold the meet. Therefore, we celebrated Bhagat Singh’s birthday in a peaceful manner in the college grounds,” Malathi said while speaking to the Hindustan Times.
According to her, the action of the college was illegal and a curb on the freedom of expression.
Principal Chitra, however, said the college was not against celebrating Singh’s birth anniversary but that it should have been conducted in a proper manner.
“Without obtaining necessary permission from the HOD, as directed, she convened the event with 100 students during the class hours. Therefore, we ordered an inquiry and suspended her after following due procedure,” Chitra said in a statement.
Malathi questioned the principal’s action of forwarding a copy of the suspension order to the local police station. “While it is an issue concerning the college, what was the necessity to send it to the police station?” she asked.
Responding to this, the principal said it was a usual and normal procedure to report suspension cases to the police.
“In order to avert problems, usually we report the suspension taken against students. Since we learnt that Malathi belongs to a student’s association, we were firm on informing the issue to local police,” she said.
The college said they were waiting for the inquiry report, which is expected by October 22, to further decide their next course of action.
A student of the Government Law College in Coimbatore was suspended in April this year for raising the issue of the gang rape of a minor girl in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua during a class discussion.
