Chennai: ”My daughter Fathima was severely pressurised. Considering the circumstances, my daughter’s death does not appear like a suicide,” claimed her father Abdul Latheef today.
Addressing the press, he said, “The DGP has promised to identify and punish the accused in connection with my daughter’s death.”
Statement from IIT-Madras
Meanwhile, IIT-Madras has released a statement expressing sadness over the incident.
“ITM authorities are being extended full cooperation. However, the social media trolling of the Institute even before the conclusion of the police investigation is gravely demoralizing the students, faculty members and staffs,” read a release.
Days after Fathima Latheef, a 19-year-old post graduate student of IIT-Madras, allegedly committed suicide, experts call for a safe and democratic space to discuss issues in premier institutions.
Also, students have demanded the formation of an expert body to look after their mental well-being. This year alone, there have been four deaths, including Fathima, reported from IIT-M.
Hidden facts
While a few pro-Tamil groups and Dravidian parties attempt to give a communal colour to Fathima’s suicide by blaming an associate professor Sudharsan Padmnabhan alone for her extreme step, the fact is that Fathima, in her note, has cited two other staff members- Hemachandran Karah and Milind Brahme- as main reasons.
In her own words, “In the case of my death the whole blame will be unremittingly upon Hemachandran Karah and Mr Milind Brahme”.
While Sudharsan is said to be linked with Arappor Iyakkam, Brahme is a Dalit-Dravidian ideologist and advisor of an Ambedkar-Periyar group. But, those trying to give religious colour to the issue and to gain political gains out of it conveniently forget these things. Today, DMK members staged a protest near IIT campus.