Aditya Prabhu, a nineteen year old, took his life after being leveled with charges of cheating in an examination, by the management of PES University (Bengaluru). Much of the corporate media went around airing article after article about the boy’s supposed act of cheating, and its termination with him paying for it with his life. Indeed, if one only read the news articles, this would be the narrative that they would find. Soon, we came across a testimony by Aditya’s mother, where she stated that Aditya had called her in the morning to inform that he had forgotten to keep his phone in the bag, and it stayed in his pocket. Halfway through the exam, when he realized that the phone was in his pocket, he kept it away from him. The phone was in airplane mode. However, he was still detained and accused of cheating. The boy’s mother states that he told her that he was being harassed by the management and that “it is better to die, than do such things.”
The mother’s letter also mentions the various attempts made by the university administration to hide this tragic death, brushing it under the carpet. When she arrived at the premises of the institute, she was told that Aditya must be around somewhere, hanging out with his friends. These were lies. They were well aware that the boy had ended his life. Quoting from the mother’s testimony: “On shouting a lot I was informed that he isn’t alive. I asked them to take him to hospital and try to revive him. What I was told next is unbelievable… I was told that I need to recognise him first and sign a statement and then they will take him to hospital and try to revive him. Even though 1 was alone, they took me (2 or 3 of them holding me) to recognise my son’s body. Which is absolutely inhuman when I think about it now. Once I agreed that it’s Aditya, they gave me something to sign and told that as soon as I sign, they will take him to hospital. Again and again I was pressured to sign.”
Indeed, as our readers may already be familiar with, this is the first point in the safety toolkit that private universities (and some public universities too) have in mind. Harass, target, humiliate, and hide – this is the motto of our educational moneybags. They have created a deeply undemocratic setting where education itself suffers and the cost is paid, it seems, with the lives of our youth. And after all the damage caused, they refuse to be questioned.
After Aditya’s mother’s testimony gained a lot of traction on social media, and notes of support and solidarity from various individuals, the university administration was upset. As yet, it has sent legal notices to media houses, with the intent to stop reportage on this issue. It has ensured that the hashtag #JusticeForAdityaPrabhu is categorized as ‘misleading’ on instagram.
Each and every individual who values human life, must offer our note of solidarity to Aditya Prabhu, and uphold his mother’s rightful demand that the university be made to accept its complicity and make amends to its procedure. However, we also need to recognise that this does not end here. Profit driven universities and their iron- law managements across the country have left no room for exercising basic freedom and dignity in the campus. Unions are attacked, intimidated and banned. Students demonstrating against these ills are marked and harassed. And when a mother asks for justice for her son, she is silenced.
If we don’t challenge this atmosphere of anti-democratic ethos and suppression of student voices, and sacrificing all else before the endless strive to accumulate profits and maintain their supposed reputation, then we will only be left with smiling photographs of our youth, whose lives were not important enough for the barons of the system.
