A first-year student of Government Law College in Coimbatore has been suspended for speaking out against the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir by the management.

The college principal KS Gopalakrishnan has suspended the student alleging that she has incited religious and gender differences among the students. However, the student, R Priya claimed that she spoke extempore on the subject of the rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl in Kathua in her class on Friday after her English faculty asked the students to give a speech on a current topic of their choice.

Priya who is an active member of the Left-leaning Revolutionary Student Front said after none of the boys in the class came forward to speak, she took the teacher’s offer and spoke on the rape incident. “I narrated the story of the girl child who raped for days inside a temple and how she was murdered. I also told my classmates that the girl child was targeted not for the dress she wore but for the patriarchal society that portrays women as an object of desire,” she said.

She said that as she was speaking some of the boys in the class went out and chanced upon another assistant professor Ammu in the corridor. “She entered our class and asked the English teacher why the students were allowed to speak on the political subjects. She also took those boys with her to principal's room,” she said.

In his order suspending the student, the college principal said that some students have given him a complaint alleging that she has been obstructing the classes and also forcing the students to boycott the classes to protest against the government.

“On April 13, she has called the boys in her class as male chauvinists and also spoke in a way to create religious differences. When assistant professor Ammu questioned her, she prevented her from doing her duty and also threatened her. The action of Priya violates the college rules and also the recommendation of Justice P Shanmugham Commission that the college campus should be beyond caste and communal politics. Hence she has been temporarily suspended from the college and barred from entering the premises without my permission,” he said.

Priya said that she was shocked when she received suspension letter from principal on Friday afternoon without even seeking an explanation from her. “I have written a letter to the college principal. I will explain my side of the story if given an opportunity. Otherwise, I will have to seek legal remedy as the exams commence from May 14,” she said.

Guna Sekar, a student of Coimbatore law college took to the social media to express solidarity with Priya.

Seeking the revocation of Priya’s suspension, he alleged that the college management usually sees students who raise social issues as someone who tries to disturb the peace. The agitating students were punished with a reduction in their internal marks, he claimed.