The Kerala High Court on Thursday granted anticipatory bail to P. Krishnadas, chairman and managing trustee of the Nehru College of Educational and Charitable Trust and first accused in a case registered in connection with the suicide of Jishnu Pranoy, a student at the group’s engineering college at Pambady in Thrissur.
The court observed that it did not find any material in the case diary to deny anticipatory bail to him.
The court pointed out that there was no material in the case diary to show that the petitioner had instigated Jishnu to commit suicide. In fact, there was evidence to show that the vice principal, invigilators, and other officials had subjected Jishnu to cruelty. But there was no material indicating that the petitioner was involved in it.
The court observed that even assuming that the college authorities wanted to suppress any attempt on the part of the students to form a union in the college, as submitted by the special prosecutor, and the authorities wanted to nip in the bud the resistance against their illegal attempts to discipline the student were true, that could not be “taken into account in the case”.
The court said the general allegation that the college authorities, including the petitioner, used to subject the students to cruelty as they resisted attempts to enforce discipline in the college had no significance.
He shall not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the Nehru college of engineering.
