Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 27
A bright Naga scholar, who aspired to be in legal profession, tragically lost the battle to tuberculosis at a hospital in Ahmedabad on October 26.
Jumika Yeptho, who hailed from Dimapur, was a student of Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) Gandhinagar. He was an IDIA (Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education) scholar, a pan India movement, which aims to train “students and help transform them to leading lawyers and community advocates.”
A top official from the IDIA has also categorically rejected reports that Jumika was initially hospitalized ‘for drug use.’
A letter from Prof. Shamnad Basheer, IDIA Founder and Managing Trustee to its members, shared with The Morung Express, informed that doctors at the hospital in Ahmedabad where he was tested, do not have such record.
“A reputed neurologist confirmed to me it was all the result of the TB bacteria attacking his brain cells, apparently 30-40% of his brain,” he added.
He regretted that inherent “prejudice” has led even his classmates to suspect “his behaviour in the days leading up-to the hospitalisation” and vowed to “work harder at redressing some of these issues.”
He further informed that his body was taken to Dimapur on October 26 and his final rite will be held the next day. “Even as we grieve at this huge loss, please keep Jumika and his family in your prayers,” Basheer said in the letter. “We’re planning to put together a short book with some of these stories and narratives from family and friends who knew him well,” it added.
Late Jumika was selected as an IDIA scholar in 2014. His profiles in IDIA website informed that he grew up in a village close to Dimapur in Nagaland. His father, the sole bread winner of the family, is employed with the State Government.
He was admitted in GNLU after passing a rigorous program for the leading law entrance examination, CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) and AILET (All India Law Entrance Test).
Jumika was also a recipient of a scholarship at the prestigious Sanik School, where he completed his schooling. He wished to study law “because he believes that law is a means to help the needy, and he wishes to help the people of his community,” it added.
