Tension prevailed at GITAM University campus on the outskirts of Bengaluru after a 22-year-old student fell to her death from the sixth floor of the hostel building on Wednesday night, the police said. Cops have been deployed on the campus to prevent untoward incidents.
The deceased Agasha Asiina, a native of Mbarara in the western region of Uganda, was a final-year Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student, the police said. Following her death, the students accused the university’s management of failing to provide her timely medical assistance and alleged the absence of safety measures in the building.
Agasha Asiina a native of Mbarara in the western region of Uganda, was a final-year BBA student. (Express photo)
As news of the death spread, hundreds of students staged a protest against the management on Thursday. The stir turned violent after some of them pelted stones, damaging window panes, among other things. The Doddaballapur rural police had to resort to mild lathi charging to control the protesters.
“We are waiting for Asiina’s family to arrive to hand over the body,” a police official said. According to police sources, around 8.30 pm Asiina, who was staying on the 6th floor of the hostel, had gone to collect the washed clothes which she had put out to dry on the terrace. She saw that her dupatta had fallen on a fibre sheet and when she went to collect it, she accidentally stepped on the sheet and fell to the first floor as the sheet was not reinforced with any railing, they added.
Hearing a loud noise, the students and security staff rushed to the spot to find her lying in a pool of blood, the police said. They shifted her to a private hospital where doctors declared her dead. The police soon alerted the Ugandan embassy and Asiina’s parents.
Officers said the passage where the incident occurred is open at the top on each floor and is covered only on the sixth floor.
