The Department of Technical Education has ordered an enquiry into the suicide of a first year student of Kommadi Chaitanya Polytechnic College in Visakhapatnam district.
Technical Education Commissioner Chadalavada Nagarani, on Saturday, issued orders for a comprehensive probe into the incident and said a detailed report should be submitted within 24 hours. She said that based on the media reports, the department had constituted a three-member inquiry committee to bring facts of the case to light.
Pendurthi Government Polytechnic College principal N. Chandra Shekhar is the inquiry officer, while Department of Metallurgy head K. Ratna Kumar and Visakhapatnam Government Polytechnic College civil engineering lecturer K. Rajya Lakshmi are members of the panel.
Ms. Nagarani said that according to media reports, the student sent a WhatsApp message to her father saying that she was resorting to the ‘extreme step’ as she was being sexually harassed by a lecturer in the college. She also messaged saying that she was not the only one, who was the victim of sexual harassment, and that there were others also. She said that she was left with no choice but to end her life to draw people’s attention to this heinous crime in the institution.
Ms. Nagarani said the department would initiate appropriate action against the perpetrators without any delay.
