Funeral procession of Andhra student taken to assembly

Hyderabad, March 10, 2010 (IANS) - Amid tight security, the body of Sai Kumar, a second year B. Tech student of Osmania University, was brought to Gun Park near the Andhra Pradesh state assembly on Tuesday night to enable supporters of the Telangana movement to pay their last respects.

Sai Kumar’s body was later taken to his native village Kodad in Nalgonda district where the last rites will be performed Wednesday.

The student hanged himself in his hostel room Tuesday to protest the delay in carving out a Telangana state. In his suicide note, he expressed the wish that his body be taken in a procession to the assembly.

The suicide triggered fresh tension in Osmania University, the nerve centre of the ongoing Telangana movement, as students clashed with police at Gandhi Hospital when the latter did not allow them to take the body to assembly. Some students were injured when police used batons.

It was late on Tuesday that the State Human Rights Commission on a petition by the Joint Action Committee of students directed police to allow the funeral procession to Gun Park at 11 p.m. The students then brought the body to Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial.

M. Kodandaram, convener of the all-party Joint Action Committee, and leaders of pro-Telangana groups offered their respects to Sai Kumar. The students raised slogans against political parties and elected representatives.

This was the third suicide for Telangana on the Osmania University campus. On Feb 20, a student of Class 12 immolated himself at the main entrance of the university to protest the delay in formation of Telangana state. He resorted to the extreme step in full public view during a protest by university students. In January, an MCA student set himself on fire in the university campus.