Students death:Inquiry panel finds lapses on part of college authorities

kottayam: an inquiry panel appointed by the mahatma gandhi university in kerala has found lapses on the part of the authorities of the bvm college in handling the case of alleged malpractices committed by a private b com third year student during the university exam there last week.      the 20-year-old private college student from kanjirappilly, anju p shaji, allegedly committed suicide, hours after she was allegedly caught "cheating" by the invigilator during her third year b com university examination held at the college on june 6.      the girl was found dead in the meenachil river on june 8, two days after she went missing from the college, one of the university examination centres.     the invigilator had seized the hall ticket on the rear of which was allegedly written certain notes related to the subject of the examination.  accepting the interim report, university vice chancellor dr sabu thomas on thursday announced that bvm college principal n v joseph will be removed from the responsibilities of examination, considering the findings in the report submitted by the three-member inquiry panel.      the panel, which was constituted to probe the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident, has found that the college authorities did not follow the examination manual of the university in taking action against the student after she was allegedly caught cheating.      "there were lapses on the part of the college authorities.the student was forced to sit alone for 32 minutes in the examination hall after she was allegedly caught cheating.    that might have caused tension for the student," the vice chancellor told a press conference here.      the panel, which examined the cctv visuals of the college, said the invigilator did not accompany the student to the principal's office when she left the exam hall at 2.32 pm.       "invigilator should have accompanied her till the office of the principal to get her written statement on the matter.however, it did not happen," the report said.      the panel also found fault with the press conference organised by the college authorities on june 8 to justify their part in the episode after the girl's fatherblamed them for the death of his daughter.      the college authorities had released cctv visuals and other documents, including seized hall ticket of the student, to the media to justify the position taken by them after the student was allegedly caught cheating.      "they should have kept them confidential.instead they published it without the permission of the university. that is a major error from their part," thomas said.       the college management authorities had also released documents to the media following allegations of mismanagement raised by the girl's family after she went missing.      "this is also a lapse on the part of the college," the panel said in its report.       "if any student is found violating the examination rules, the invigilator should report the matter to the college principal. the superintendent should get a written statement from the erring student after summoning the erring student to the office.this did not happen in this case," the vice chancellor said.       demanding a thorough investigation, anju's father has claimed that the girl was good in studies and she would not have resorted to any malpractice.