Dalit research scholar from Osmania commits suicide over unemployment

Hyderabad: A Dalit research scholar from Osmania university committed suicide allegedly due to unemployment inside the Osmania University hostel on February 17.

The Ph.D student, identified as Mr Kompally Narsaiah, was pursuing his doctorate in Geography from the Geography department of Osmania university. He was found dead inside his hostel room on Monday. The student hails from Paladugu Village in Mothkur Mandal in Nalgonda district.

The matter came to light on Monday afternoon when one of his friends knocked on his door and there was no response from him. After informing the police, his door was opened, only to find Narasaiah dead. The police also recovered a bottle of liquid, assumed to be poison and has sent it to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination.

Talking about the student, one of his friends said, “Narsaiah was quite a sociable person. He has actively taken part in theTelangana agitations and other protests demanding students rights. But none of us knew that he was going through depression."

Speaking in the context of the employment opportunities in the state, one of his juniors told NewsMeter, "The government has failed to provide proper employment to students, even those who are highly qualified. This is the reason why students like Narsaiah are driven to such extreme steps."

S Rajashekar Reddy, Inspector, Osmania University police station said, “The doctor who conducted the autopsy has said that the student died due to consumption of poison.” The police have booked a case under suspicious death and further investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, tension escalated in the university campus after the news of his death broke on Monday evening. Students unions and students gathered in the campus, demanding ex-gratia compensation to the family. They also opposed to his body being moved out of the campus. However police, amidst strong resistance, took the body for postmortem and confirmed that no suicide note was found so far.

Earlier in December 2017, a postgraduate student, E. Murali, had committed suicide in the Osmania University campus, reportedly depressed about not getting a government job. Since the formation of the new state, this is the second student suicide in the university campus.