The political slugfest over the alleged mock funeral of Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (SSUS) Vice-Chancellor Ciza Thomas by the activists of Students Federation of India (SFI) at the main campus in Kalady near here on August 13, 2026 refuses to die down amidst the contention by the leadership of the student body that the protestors had staged a performance to highlight the damaged lighting equipment at the Department of Theatre.

A tense situation had prevailed at the campus as the SFI activists staged a march while the first meeting of the re-constituted Syndicate convened by the Vice-Chancellor was underway. The federation has been on the warpath for over four weeks to press its various demands, including steps to fill up the faculty vacancies and lack of infrastructure faced by the students. The visuals of the agitators carrying spot lights and emoting funeral scenes had gone viral, besides inviting sharp criticism against the SFI on allegations that they had carried out a mock funeral of Ms. Thomas.

SFI State Secretary P. S Sanjeev had told mediapersons that the students of the Department of Theatre had staged a symbolic protest to highlight the damaged spot lights used by them as part of their studies. A deliberate attempt is being made to portray the performance as a symbolic funeral of the Vice-Chancellor. There is an attempt to threaten the students by trying to silence their protests, he alleged.

Ms. Thomas had mentioned in her complaint submitted to the Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar that a dummy effigy representing her was taken out and subjected to a mock funeral. “The protestors performed Christian funeral rites, accompanied by slogans and cries announcing and mocking my purported death. The dummy was thereafter cremated. The entire incident was recorded on video, and portions of the recording were subsequently circulated through social media”, she alleged.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had criticised the alleged mock funeral protest while pointing out that is was not appropriate for a civilised society and it cannot be accepted. Minister for Higher Education Roji M. John had condemned it and termed it as an ‘uncivilised protest’. Four SFI activists, who were arrested by the police based on two separate cases registered in connection with the incident, had received bail on Wednesday.

Published - August 21, 2026 05:07 pm IST