NLSIU Dalit student hangs himself in hostel room

Bengaluru: A 22-year-old Dalit student of National Law School of India University (NLSIU) committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling of hostel room near Jnanabharati on Saturday evening.

Kanishk Bharti was staying at room no. 3 on the first floor of the hostel complex. Police suspect the Uttar Pradesh youth might have taken the extreme step on Thursday as his body was in a decomposed stage. He was an undergraduate student at the premier law school.

The incident came to light around 5pm, when his parents called his friends at the hostel and requested them to look at Kanishk as he was not responding to their calls since Thursday. When Kanishk’s hostelmates rushed to his room, bad odour was emanating from the room. They peeped through the room window and found his body hanging. They informed the hostel management, who alerted jurisdictional Jnanabharati police.

Police rushed to the spot and brought down the body. It was hanging from the ceiling fan by a rope.

The body was shifted to Victoria Hospital and his parents in Uttar Pradesh were informed about the death. His relatives including his father, Veerendra Bharti, rushed to the city by Sunday morning.

Kanishk’s body was handed over to his parents after the postmortem.

Police said they did not find any suicide note in his room. They said they are yet to know the reason for the student taking the extreme step.  Kanishk’s father Veerendra reportedly told police his son was suffering from health issues and was treated at a city hospital. Police learnt in the preliminary probe that Kanishk was having trouble on academic front too. He was unable to clear his last academic year and hence was repeating the year.

“Veerendra has requested us to find out the reason behind the Kanishk’s extreme step. We will visit the hostel on Monday to record statements from his classmates, hostel inmates and teaching staff,” said a police officer.

 ‘Students in a state of shock’

One of the students said on the condition of anonymity that the hostel students were disturbed by the development. “We don’t know what pushed him to take the extreme step and the hostel authorities also have not divulged any information to other inmates. This has really worried us. They have also insisted we not speak about the issue with outsiders, specifically to media,” he said.

The hostel management has told students that a meeting will be held on Monday where questions can be raised over the issue. The university has declared a holiday on Monday.

It can be recalled in November 2016, Nishi Ankita Kujur, a third-year law student of the university, committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her varsity hostel room. Later, probe revealed that Nishi committed suicide due to recurring illness.

Courtesy: TOI