Jishnu Pranoy suicide: Pinarayi Vijayan government slammed on social media for lax handling of case

The Kerala government has received a lot of flak from different quarters, especially on the social media, over the handling of Jishnu Pranoy’s suicide case. Twitterati came out in support of the family, slamming the Pinarayi Vijayan administration and the police on social media. According to a report in Deccan Chronicle , the investigation was also triggered by the protests on social media—students started uploading Jishnu’s photos—and activists began staging a protest in front of the college which turned violent.

When Vemula died, @SitaramYechury rushed to H'bad to 'console' d family. In Kerala, his party's govt is dragging d victim's mother on roads!

— Sangeetha (@PplOfIndia) April 6, 2017

Engineering student arrested in Kerala for criticising chief sinister Pinarayi Vijayan. Democracy gives way to Stalinism #JungleRajInKerala

— Ganesh Radhakrishnan (@gkmadathil) April 7, 2017

While some blamed the Kerala government’s indifference, the others called it jungle raj.

The most irresponsible Policemen in the world may be #TheKeralaPolice
Charging against mother who protest for her son #jishnupranoy

— Arjun A M (@ImAju555) April 5, 2017

According to The News Minute , a Facebook page “Justice for Jishnu” was also created, with several posts alleging that emotional harassment by the college authorities was a regular affair. The death of Jishnu also led to a ripple effect in the state, with students coming out with horrific stories of torture and harassment at the hands of managements of private colleges on the social media.

According to The News Minute, several popular figures on social media, including filmmaker Aashiq Abu, condemned the incident. On Twitter, writer NS Madhavan said that the college was an “avaricious teaching shop that gleefully employs perverts with previous history because they come cheap.” A Change.org petition addressed to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has also been doing the rounds, which demands appropriate action against those responsible for Jishnu’s death.

And to top it all, the government released an advertisement titled “Jishnu Case - The truth behind it” in Saturday’s newspapers. The ad, detailing the sequence of events on the action taken in the alleged suicide of the student, was slammed by the Pranoy’s family.

Indian Express reported how the social media campaign received considerable traction in the local media and even moderate success as the college management announced Thursday that three staff members including Shakthivel, Praveen and PRO Sanjith K Vishwanathan had been suspended as part of an internal investigation.

On 7 April, the Congress had slammed the CPI-M’s defence of the police action against Jishnu Prannoy’s mother during the protests. She had blamed the college’s chairman Krishnadas and some others, all of whom are now out on bail, for her son’s death.

In Kerala Jishnu Pranoy case is a clear case of manipulation by power persons. Krishna das is getting protection from pillers of democracy

— V.R.Ajith kumar (@ajithkumarvr) April 5, 2017

Ahahahaha. My prediction came true. Pinarayi Vijayan said anti-social elements were infiltrating into Jishnu family movement

— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) April 5, 2017

On 5 April, one person even shared an old post of Jishnu, where he praised Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. While another person drew comparison to Dalit students Rohith Vemula and Najeeb Jung, who went  missing from JNU.

Pranoy was found hanging in January on the campus of the Nehru College of Engineering and Research, in Thrissur. Initially, the death was dismissed as a case of suicide, but after his mother protested, police have taken up the case again as she has been firm on her belief that her son was “killed” by the college authorities.

With inputs from agencies