Criminal behaviour in colleges sad trend, form inter-dept panel to reform: Madras HC

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court lamented about the behaviour of students of prestigious Pachaiyappa’s and Presidency colleges, saying that the court is disheartened that many of the students are getting involved in criminal activities.

The court added that "criminals are made, not born", and directed the State to form a committee to address the issue, keeping in mind the larger interests of the student community’s future.

The HC ordered the formation of a special committee comprising statesmen, scholars, psychoanalysts, and representatives from the departments of human resource development, higher education, school education, and police. Such panels should be formed to prevent violence among students at least in future, directed Justice AD Jagadish Chandira while hearing a batch of petitions moved by college students seeking bail in a murder case.

Going by the saying, ‘as the twig is bent, so grows the tree’, immediate measures must be taken at the college level, but long-term solutions require early intervention starting from schools with regular parent-teacher interactions to identify and address behavioural issues, wrote the judge.

A group of students from Pachaiyappa’s college, including the petitioners, chased and brutally attacked A Sundar, a student of Presidency college near Chennai Central suburban railway station on October 4. Sundar succumbed to the injuries on October 9 at the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital.

Based on the complaint lodged by the father of the deceased student, E Anandan, a daily wager, Periamet police registered a case and arrested five students.

Out of them, Chandru, Eswar, Yuvaraj and Eswaran, booked under murder charges, moved HC seeking bail.

The HC impleaded the principals of Pachaiyappa’s and Presidency colleges, in a move to explore the preventive measures against student violence and promote social peace and welfare. Justice Jagadish Chandira further impleaded the secretaries of both the higher education and school education departments in the case.

On pursuing the detailed report submitted by the police, the court came to know that 231 student-related criminal cases were registered in the past decade, out of which 58 cases involve Pachaiyappa's College students and 28 involve students from Presidency College.

"It is disheartening that students of such prestigious institutions have been involved in criminal behaviour, tarnishing their reputations and jeopardising their futures", the judge worried.

It’s tragic that families who are looking at their sons as saviours are unaware of such wayward behaviour, the judge lamented. Students indulging in criminal activities don’t just spoil their future, but also fail the hope placed by their parents who send them for education, spending their hard-earned money, wrote the judge.

Institutions must not ignore such issues merely because they occur outside the campus or involve only a few students, read the judgment.