By Agra Ranasinghe A few days ago, there was a national outcry over an inhumane incident that took place on 6 March where a student of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura sustained serious head injuries after being hit by a tyre thrown at him from the top of a staircase. The student was Pasindu Hirushan. Having studied at St. Peter’s College in Udugampola and having passed his Advanced Level (A/L) examination with three As in 2018, Pasindu enrolled in the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura this year. Pasindu had to sit for his A/Ls just after his mother’s funeral and still managed to pass with flying colours. He is a talented, bright student who had engaged in sports and other extracurricular activities in school as well. Amidst the many financial constraints his family faces time and time again, his family has high hopes for him. However, following the recent brutal incident, Pasindu was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo and is suffering from brain injury and internal bleeding. When we visited Colombo National Hospital, one of Pasindu’s friends, who wished to remain anonymous, elaborated on the story of that unfortunate day. Both Pasindu and he had attended a party organised for the newcomers of the university. The party had started at around 9 p.m. As he recalled, all the senior and junior male students had participated in the party. At around 1 a.m., Pasindu’s friend had looked for Pasindu to return to their boarding house. At around 1.24 a.m., Pasindu’s friend had called him and Pasindu had told him to come to the pavilion so that they could go back to the boarding house from there. However, when Pasindu’s friend had gone to the pavilion, he had seen a student falling down the stairs after being hit by a huge tyre. Moments later, he realised that the student was in fact Pasindu. Furthermore, Lakshan Silva, Pasindu’s only brother, told The Sunday Morning that some of those involved in the incident were trying to hide facts that could reveal what really happened that day. He further said that although it is said that ragging in state universities had stopped, the act has been secretly continuing. Backing up his statement, he said that one of the university students – and one of Pasindu’s roommates – had drunk an entire bottle of a toilet bowl cleaning product due to mental stress caused by ragging. Silva mainly pointed out that such a huge tyre couldn’t have fallen out of nowhere and that it was certainly done deliberately. It was also confirmed that while the senior students had been consuming alcohol at the party, Pasindu and his friends had not. Meanwhile, the Students’ Union of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura said the incident was an accident and that no authority can be blamed. However, following investigations carried out by the Mirihana Police, five senior students of the university were taken into custody. The Police confirmed that the student who dropped the tyre was one of the five arrested students. The law Speaking about the law and rights, Attorney-at-Law Dewanmani Wijeysinghe said that according to Article 126 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, any citizen can produce a petition to the Supreme Court in cases of human rights violations or infringement. This law applies to university students as well. University students too can be produced before the relevant court and be subjected to any suitable punishment followed by a trial if they engaged in any form of violence defined in the Constitution. Anti-ragging movement After the ragging cases that happened in the University of Peradeniya, an anti-ragging movement emerged in 1996. At the time, several anti-ragging movements began to take root in other universities as well. As a result, many internal clashes erupted between ragging and anti-ragging movements in universities. The Sunday Morning also contacted Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Propaganda Secretary Pubudu Jagoda regarding Pasindu’s case as the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) is now formally affiliated to it. “As far as I know, this situation has only been reported as an incident which happened due to alcohol consumption. There’s a big issue in controlling matters regarding alcohol, drugs, etc. Therefore, the tradition of solving this problem should be changed. There’s a huge gap between what the media says and what the Vice Chancellor expresses about this. We depend on what officials say, such as the vice chancellor, the Police, etc.,” he noted. The Sunday Morning then contacted Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP Sunil Handunnetti for comment. He said that necessary action should be taken with regard to Pasindu’s case. “The investigations have not yet affirmed whether this case was an accident or not. As far as I know, it’s just an incident that happened at a party organised for first-year students. When such incidents happen, all the people point their fingers at political parties and not the students who commit such acts.