Kottayam: “My father asked, do you have any protest after trampling a boy from your college, and was confused as to what to say. I was not aware of the incident. It was a stretch. He felt that he should do what he could. I felt like cutting my hair. There was nothing else in my hand” – Anjana Kathryn with her hair cut in protest against the moral hooliganism that trampled the student and her friend in the city center of Kottayam.
Kottayam CMS College became the venue for a rare protest on Wednesday morning. Anjana Catherine, a second-year English graduate student, protested against the attack on a Kottayam CMS college student and her friend by cutting her hair. With Anjana’s decision and other students of the class standing by, the college’s Great Hall became the venue for a protest the likes of which the campus had never seen before.
Anjana, who cut her hair on Wednesday morning, along with her classmates hung it on the veranda of the Great Hall. Added a badge with them. If I don’t speak, then who will? Shouldn’t we protest when there is violence against someone in our group? Annarakannam is the temple. Being able to convey a message to others is great.
We felt it was our duty to stand with the student who was assaulted even though he was not from our batch. All the classmates are with us with full support – said Anjana, a native of Paipad. The second year English graduate students prepared the poster and signed it collectively.
Before long, the protest flame lit by Anjana spread across the campus. In the evening, all the students of the college rallied in the campus against the swamp that trampled her. Students made a huge human wall around the college as a warning to the attackers. Meanwhile, more students cut their hair. Anjana’s hair was added to theirs. This was a warning to the assailants as the college and teachers stood by.
The incident that shamed Aksharanagari took place at Tirunakkara in Kottayam city center at 11 on Monday night. The student and her friend, who had come to eat at the shop, were brutally attacked by a three-member gang after speaking in a sexual manner. The victims of the attack complained that there were around 50 people as spectators but no one tried to save them. Police arrested the accused in the incident.