Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre (NCERC) is a private engineering college situated in Thiruvilwamala in Thrissur District of Kerala, India. The college is approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) New Delhi and accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). It was featured in the news in January 2017, following the suicide of a student because he was allegedly harassed by the college authorities for purported malpractices during an examination. This incident has sparked a chain reaction in Kerala where hundreds of students have now come out to share the horrific tales of torture and harassment in the state’s self-financed colleges.
Situated in Thiruvilwamala in Thrissur District of Kerala, India, the college is affiliated to All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) New Delhi, and the University of Calicut. They have 12 educational Institutions in Kerala and Tamil Nadu collectively called as Nehru Group of Institutions. NCERC was accredited and awarded with ISO 9001-2008 certification. The college is run by Nehru College of Educational and Charitable Trust, established in the year 1968 and headquartered in Kuniamuthur in Coimbatore District of Tamil Nadu, India.
Unconventional rules
There are penalties for growing beards, failure to wear an ID tag, being late, cutting a cake for celebrations etc. Students who question these policies may be punished by cutting internal marks or not allowing to attend the exams. There is an undeclared ban on girls and boys being together on the campus.
Student Suicide Controversy
An 18-year old computer science student named Jishnu Pranoy was found hanging in his hostel bathroom on 6, January 2017 due to harassment by the college management allegedly after he was caught cheating in university semester exam. There were torture marks on Jishnu's body and the college authorities also refused to take him to the hospital. The death of the student caused violent protests with many students coming out and sharing the harassment they are facing in this college. It was reportedly revealed there are torture rooms in the college where students are assaulted. Students are also fined for beards longer than 0.02 millimeter. Students are not allowed to have girlfriends or sit on the same bench with girls in the classroom. Even cutting cakes in the classroom for celebrating birthdays is banned in this college. Kerala state Human Rights Commission has sought a report on this matter.
Many mainstream media didn't mention the name of the college, and instead resorted to using the term 'popular college'. This caused an intense social media rage against the media and college management for trying to cover-up the issue. The name of the college was finally revealed by the Kairali People TV channel. The hashtag #JusticeForJishnu trended in all social media across Kerala. A Facebook campaign page was also started (called Justice for Jishnu ) where students came together to share several posts about alleged that emotional harassment by the college authorities was an everyday affair.
The mystery of Jishnu's unnatural death deepened when the college's statement of 'caught copying' was proved false in all the investigations. The university investigation team assigned by KTU(Kerala Technical University) said they have not received any complaints regarding the copying incident of Jishnu. According to the University rules, the college is required to immediately report any exam malpractice incidents on the same day of the exam.
After inspecting the bench on which Jishnu sat on that fateful exam day, the distance and angle towards the other students, A.D.G.P Sudesh Kumar concluded that there is no chance Jishnu could have copied from that seat in the way the college is claiming. Also, all students have testified saying that Jishnu didn't copy.
Jishnu's postmortem report shows that there were multiple injuries on his nose, face, lips and neck hinting to physical torture. His classmates had alleged that the Vice-principal and PRO of the college had physically assaulted Jishnu after which he committed suicide.
After this incident, students of many other private engineering colleges also started coming out with harassment stories from management. When the protest turned violent, the college management suspended Vice-principal Dr N K Sakthivel, teacher Praveen C P and PRO Sanjith Viswanathan.