“Negative” reportage in media blamed for DU prof, mother suicide

NEW DELHI: Friends and colleagues of the Delhi University professor blamed the “negative” reportage for the death of the professor and his mother.

A decapitated body of 27-year-old Allen Stanley, who was an ad-hoc professor in Delhi University’s (DU) St Stephen’s College was found on Saturday on the railway tracks at Sarai Rohilla.

His mother, Lissy, 55, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at their flat in northwest Delhi’s Pitampura.

Stanley’s friends and colleagues said the professor had started isolating himself following the ‘malicious’ news reports published on October 15 in the regional media because of an abetment-to-suicide case pending against them.

The news reporting portrayed Stanley’s mother mother in bad light.

Although, the mother-son duo secured anticipatory bail in the case but was suffering from depression because of public humiliation.

Police found a four-page suicide note written in Malayalam, two knives from the flat where the woman’s body with her mouth stuffed with a piece of cloth found hanging.

“In a four-page suicide note signed by both Stanley and his mother, the police in Kerala and a few other people have been accused of harassment in connection with the case. The regional media has also been blamed for sensational reporting on the case,” a senior officer of the Delhi Police, who did not wish to be named was quoted as saying to PTI.

Following the post-mortem, the bodies will be handed over to the family members and friends of the deceased and funeral will take place on Tuesday.