Village of self-immolating student to boycott polls

Residents of a Haryana village where a girl, who set herself on fire last month to protest a college management's "intentional" poor marking, died Sunday, have decided to boycott the Oct 15 assembly polls.

Pinky Chauhan, of Kasan village near Manesar here, was among the over 1,000 students protesting against the management of the Government Post-Graduate College for Women near Sector 14 here and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, for "intentionally" giving them low marks.

The girl, a B.Sc. IInd year student, was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi Sep 29 with 90 percent burn injuries and succumbed to her injuries Sunday afternoon.

"A panchayat was held in the village after her cremation and it was decided to boycott the assembly elections scheduled Oct 15," Gopal Singh, husband of sarpanch Vimla Devi, told IANS.

"We want justice for Pinky who lost her life due to negligence of her teachers. She identified five lecturers, including four women. Two others are also under suspicion. We want them to be booked for murder and their immediate arrest," Satyapal Singh, Pinky's uncle, who is also a teacher, told IANS.

He added: "We will convoy our message officially to Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi by Monday."

Kasan village comes under Pataudi (reserved) constituency and has over 6,000 eligible voters.

Earlier, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Pushpender Singh Chauhan, college principal Gyanendra Singh along with other officials attended Pinky's funeral and assured her kin of justice after the assembly elections.

A case of abetment of suicide, criminal conspiracy and other sections of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against the college management.

Hundreds of students from the science and commerce streams were declared failed in the examinations that were conducted recently.

Meanwhile, college hostels were vacated out of fear that students would begin a fresh agitation. "The college management told hostellers that the institute will remain closed till Oct 25," a student said.

The state higher education department has decided to close two other government colleges in Gurgaon till Oct 15.