The unnatural death of a 17-year-old girl at a religious education centre at Thiruvananthapuram has stirred a storm in Kerala as social media is awash with posts demanding ‘justice for Asmiya’.
Asmiya, a 12th-standard student, was found hanging inside the library of Al Aman Educational Complex at Balramapuram in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. The Balramapuram Police lodged an FIR for unnatural death. Asmiya, the daughter of Rahmathu Beevi and Nasirudeen, was inside the hostel within the complex when she called her mother and told her that she was being harassed by a teacher.
"It was a distress call," Firoz, the cousin brother of Asmiya, tells Outlook.
Asmiya told her mother that she was being harassed, although not sexual in nature. She was not allowed to talk to her friends.
Firoz tells Outlook, “The teacher was very strict and did not allow her to go home and meet her family members. But she wanted to. Her mother and grandmother rushed to the hostel and reached there within a few hours after receiving the call but the principal was not there at the institution. The teachers, who were present, refused to let Amiya's mother inside.”
Initially, Asmiya’s mother was told that her daughter was in the bathroom. A call to the principal was not of any help, as he allegedly spoke very rudely to them. Instead, he complained against Asmiya and said that she “was very disobedient and a lesson must be taught”.
“Asmiya’s mother and grandmother barged into the room and searched her everywhere. They could not find her in the bathroom. Finally, they found her hanging inside the library room. They immediately took her to the hospital, but she was gone,” says Firoz.
According to Firoz, it was the first time that she expressed grievance about some kind of harassment at the institution. She had raised no such complaint before.
Asmiya joined Al Aman Educational Institution, which is a residential madrassa and regular school, in 11th standard. Asmiya’s mother makes a living by doing menial jobs as a helper in preparing rice flour. Her father Nasirudeen went missing in the 2017 Ockhi Cyclone and could not be traced. Asmiya’s education was not free at Al Aman.
“Her father’s brother and his family are relatively well off. They are all settled in the Gulf and he was supporting her monthly expenses at the hostel. They were paying around Rs 6,000 per month for her stay and studies,” says Firoz, who denies the media reports that it was an orphanage where children are given education free of cost.
The students were allowed to make calls to their parents once a week. “They allow children to go home only on special occasions or whenever there is an emergency,” says Firoz.
The incident has led to widespread protests in Kerala with '#JusticeForAsmiya' taking over social media
“This is an institutional murder,” writes Jamshid Pallipram on Facebook. In a post that went viral, he raised the demand that the government should make regulations to monitor such institutions.
“She was a smart and happy child. We don’t believe that she had to take her own life. Someone is involved in her death. We have to find it out. We lost our child, but we will fight this to put an end to this kind of harassment happening in religious institutions,” says Firoz.
