Thiruvananthapuram: A second-year student of an engineering college in the Kerala state capital underwent mental torture and a social boycott after she protested caste-based discrimination.

Athira, hailing from a tribal hamlet at Vanchivayal in Idukki district, has been denied entrance to the hostel of College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram (CET) after she was portrayed as mentally disturbed.

“Rohith (Vemula) chose to die. But I won’t. I will fail I die. I have decided to stand up,” Athira, a member of the Oorali tribal community, told Twocircles.net on February 11.

Rohith Chakravarti Vemula, a doctorate student at the University of Hyderabad, committed suicide on January 17, 2016, allegedly under caste-based discrimination. His death led to nationwide protests.

Athira says her trouble began after she asked, “What is your opinion about reservation for a student in CET?” in a Facebook group of the college students and staff.

“I was treated as a criminal. Seniors along with teachers started to irritate asking “why do you come up with unwanted questions?’ This is the approach of educational institutions in the state, toward reservation,” Athira said.

Athira, 20, has been forced to leave the college since the norms of Kerala Technical University don’t allow a year-out student to continue her studies. She lost some months in the college while she underwent treatment for mental depression after she was branded as a mental patient.

Even before this incident, the casteism was visible in day-to-day affairs of the college, Athira alleges.

She and a Dalit girl were told to go seats when they sat in the class’s front row. “One of the faculty members told me that ‘you will try to perform like meritorious students if you sit with them. But you will fail to do.’ He added that this would lead to ego issues and lead to depression, affecting my studies,” Athira alleged. Faculty members used to comment that tribal students can perform well only if they are given special tuition,” she added.

“How can a tribal student from backward conditions perform like others, who studied at leading schools and were given coaching by experts? I couldn’t even attend entrance coaching classes,” Athira said.

Athira also alleged teachers used to say since she got through reservation, the competition would be tough. “So, I should focus on your studies and not intervene in other things.”

Athira says the apparently harmless suggestions were a polite way of reminding the tribal students that they should not try to expose the college’s casteist attitude. “We can also perform well. But such advice ruins our confidence,” she adds.

Under the college orders Athira’s parents came from Idukki and took her to a nearby hospital for psychiatric treatment.

Athira’s father Thankappan and mother Ramani are day laborers under a federal government employment project.

“The first doctor in Thiruvananthapuram said that I was perfectly normal. My parents took me to our hometown, where doctors prescribed medicines for hyper activism and depression. I missed most of my classes due to treatment for the disease that I didn’t have,” she said.

When she came back, Athira was told she could not stay at the hostel and continue at CET.

The teachers were trying to get her a transfer to the engineering college in the Kerala University campus in Thiruvananthapuram. The university senate granted her transfer. But she has refused the transfer. “I don’t want to go to a lower rung college. I know I can complete B Tech from CET if they allow me,” she said.

On February 10, she appeared for a supplementary examination as she had failed to clear seven papers due to long absence and discrimination in granting internal marks. “The college administration shows its true colors in allotting internal marks,” she says.

Meanwhile, Dalit and tribal students say that Athira’s case is not isolated. “The plight is almost similar in Kerala campuses, where students undergo discrimination. Teachers give less internal marks to these students and thus they struggle while others easily clear papers,” says Binesh Balan, a tribal student.

Binesh was denied opportunity to join London School of Economics for a year due to the deliberate laxity by officers in giving him financial assistance.

“Students who got admission through reservation are considered second-class citizens. But no one dares to complain,” he says.