Alappuzha: The results of the an essay competition at the Kerala State School Youth Festival were annulled after protests erupted against the appointment of poetess-teacher Deepa Nisanth, who is in the midst of a plagiarism row, as a judge.

Writer Santhosh Echikkanam was assigned for the reassessment and the Appeals Committee later approved it.

The Youth Congress, which had opposed the inclusion of Deepa, had submitted a petition against her to the Director of Public Instruction. The protest was against assigning the college lecturer the evaluation of Malayalam essay writing.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had alleged that the inclusion of Deepa degraded the festival.

Deepa, however, asserted that she was qualified as per norms set in the festival manual. “People were using the current situation against me. I had expressed regret about the poetry row. There is no need to raise that again,” she said.

Youth Congress, Kerala Students Union and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists staged a protest outside the Co-operative Bank Auditorium on Saturday when Deepa arrived for valuation work. The police had to arrest and remove them.

Initially, the LM Higher Secondary School was decided as the valuation venue for writing competitions. However, it was shifted after the police warned of protests when Deepa arrives.

Plagiarism row

An assistant professor in the Kerala Varma College in Thrissur, Deepa was recently accused of plagiarising a poem. The row followed the publication of a poem titled ‘Anganeyirikke...’ in a magazine published by the All-Kerala Private College Teachers’ Association in Deepa's name. Young writer S Kalesh alleged that the poem was a direct lift of his earlier work, ‘Anganeyirikke Marichu Poyi Njan/Nee’, published on his blog in 2011 and in a weekly later.

As a controversy erupted, Deepa first denied the charges but later apologised. Deepa claimed she was made to believe that the poem was not Kalesh’s, but blamed activist Sreechithran MJ for passing it of as an original work.

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