Inter exam row: BJP leaders call on kin of students who committed suicide after alleged goof up in results

BJP leaders in Telangana on Tuesday called on family members of students who allegedly committed suicide ever since the results were declared on April 18.

Inter exam row: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Telangana on Tuesday called on family members of students who allegedly committed suicide ever since the results were declared on April 18, upset over the marks they got. The alleged goof-up in the declaration of results by the Board of Intermediate Education led to protests by students, parents, students' organisations and political parties in the state.

State BJP president K Laxman and party MP Bandaru Dattatreya separately met family members of students who allegedly committed suicide. While Laxman met some in Hyderabad, Dattatreya visited a family in Warangal. "This is not a suicide. We feel this is a murder by the government," Laxman told reporters, after meeting the family members of a girl student Tuesday.

The objective of meeting family members is to console them and extend moral support. The BJP would also make efforts to get ex-gratia from the government to the kin of the deceased, Laxman had said on Monday. He claimed that about 25 students have ended their lives since April 18, when the intermediate results were announced.

Laxman had launched an indefinite fast last, demanding justice for students, and had called off the fast after five days following an appeal made by BJP president Amit Shah. BJP's demands include sacking education minister G Jagadeesh Reddy, suspension of Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) secretary, judicial inquiry into the whole episode and paying compensation to families of students who allegedly committed suicide, upset with the result.

Laxman had announced that a delegation of state BJP leaders would meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and also President Ram Nath Kovind in Delhi this week. The saffron party had called for a state-wide bandh on the issue Thursday last. About 9.74 lakh students had appeared for the Intermediate exam in March this year and 3.28 lakh of them had failed, according to official sources.

Errors like not displaying practical exam marks in the memos of certain geography students and bubbling error in some
OMR sheets by examiners, along with mistakes of other nature, have come to the fore since the announcement of results. A three-member committee, appointed by the state government to look into the issue, has pointed out certain shortcomings and suggested remedial measures.

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