A photojournalist of The New Indian Express was attacked by a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras for shooting pictures in connection with the suicide of a girl student at the campus hostel.
Lensman Albin Mathew was deputed to take pictures of the Sarayu Extension-II hostel where first-year M Tech student Nerugu Manasa allegedly committed suicide. That is part of professional work of any news photographer, but IIT-M’s Prof Prakash M Maiya had other ideas.
While Mathew was on his way out of the campus, Maiya and a bunch of security personnel intercepted him. They asked him to show the pictures he had clicked and insisted that they be deleted. Mathew naturally refused.
The annoyed professor and five security guards then got physical. While the securitymen pinned him down, the don punched Mathew’s face and rained blows on other parts of the body. Mathew sustained external injuries in the upper lip region and internal injuries in the right chest and the left rear shoulder.
The security guards then took Mathew to the IIT-M’s Administrative Building and detained him for about an hour until policemen arrived on the scene to rescue him after Express took up the matter with the police top brass. Mathew went straight to the Kotturpuram police station and lodged a complaint. He was then taken to the Royapettah Government General Hospital where doctors administered first aid.
IIT-M Dean of Students L S Ganesh later tried to pacify a bunch of agitated journalists and apologised for the episode, terming it as unfortunate.
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