Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
Urvi Bharadwaj, final year student at Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur was found dead in the girls’ hostel washroom on August 24th.
Urvi’s hostel mates found her lying unconscious on the washroom floor. Although she was rushed to BALCO hospital, she was declared dead. The police are still investigating the matter to ascertain the cause of death.
Her fellow students commented that she was absent for a few days from her classes before her demise. It was also brought to attention that she was intimated about being debarred from appearing for an exam.
An emergency condolence meeting was arranged by the administration at the University’s auditorium on the day of the incident. Vice-Chancellor Dr VC Vivekanandan addressed the gathering on the incident. He defended the administration against the hearsay that the students were being subjected to academic pressure.
Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protested the next day, demanding justice for Urvi and necessitated an impartial probe into the matter along with the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor. A three-day holiday was declared by the University administration, which has now been extended till September 3.
HNLU University has issued a press release refuting claims that the student was debarred from writing exams-“The information carried by some sections of online media/blogs relating to the unfortunate demise of our student a few days back is completely false and bereft of facts. We wish to state that the student was not debarred from writing any exams at any point of time and had no backlog (arrears) papers till the last Semester. In fact, she had a CGPA of 5.8 out of seven, which is considered as a very good score. The parents of the student came and cremated her at Raipur as per their wish and interacted with the administration of the University. The University earnestly appeals to the media not to insult the sensibility of the parents and also make undignified remarks about the departed soul without verifying the facts based on false narratives.”