Classes have been suspended for two days at S.N. College, Chelannur, near here, after students gheraoed the Principal for around seven hours on Monday in protest against the termination of services of a guest faculty there.
The Principal was locked inside her cabin from 11 a.m. till around 6.30 p.m. There was tension on the campus for a while and the police took into custody around 15 activists of the Students Federation of India, including the college union chairman and other union functionaries, to bring the situation under control.
The series of events that led to Monday’s protest started in December. The students alleged that Principal V. Devipriya had spoken in an insulting manner to Mohammed Shahil, a guest lecturer attached to the Department of English. They claimed that she had earlier behaved in a similar way with a student too.
They protested after Mr. Shahil was terminated from services at the instance of the Principal, the students said.
Principal’s version
Ms. Devipriya, however, claimed that Mr. Shahil had no control over the students and they were left on their own during classes.
The efforts to convince him about his duties were in vain.
Mr. Shahil also had shown insubordination, she pointed out. Ms. Devipriya said that though she had asked Mr. Shahil to submit his resignation, he had not replied so far.
