Jyothirmai

London, May 9: A sombre condolence meeting attended by nearly 200 staff and students was held at Wolverhampton University today in memory of 23-year-old Samrajyo Jyothirmai Vempala, as the man accused of murdering her, Nagraj Kumar Nalloori, 24, made a brief appearance at the Birmingham magistrates’ court.

Wolverhampton refused to discuss Nalloori although it was being assumed he is also an Indian student at the university and shared the same address as Jyothirmai on Montague Road, Handsworth, a suburb of Birmingham about 11 miles from the university campus.

Police who were summoned to the house on Tuesday found Jyothirmai’s body inside, while Nalloori was taken to hospital, treated for his injuries, arrested and then subsequently charged with murder yesterday. A post mortem showed Jyothirmai had died from head injuries.

What transpired between the couple will not emerge until Nalloori’s trial. The murder has been described as a “domestic situation”, implying there was a relationship between the couple though Jyothirmai’s parents may not have been aware of this.

When Jyothirmai’s friends rang her parents in Vijayawada with the news of her death early on Wednesday, they provided misleading information, deliberately or otherwise, by suggesting she had been attacked by an unknown assailant, a dark complexioned or black man, who had knocked on her door and assaulted her with a rod. It is possible they did not want to disclose details of Jyothirmai’s personal circumstances.

Nalloori today pleaded not guilty to murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on May 16.

Because of a backlog of cases, it is unlikely the trial can take place until late this year or early next year.

Jyothirmai’s body can only be repatriated to India once the police and the local coroner no longer require it for the purposes of a trial or further pathological tests. Often, in murder cases, the body is retained to allow the defence to conduct its own examination.

Wolverhampton intends to be represented at the funeral by Ashar Ehsan, its marketing and communications director, and Ms Jo Gittens, director of its international office, though they may decide to travel to India sooner to express their condolences in person to Jyothirmai’s parents.

Today, in the main hall at Wolverhampton’s School of Health, adorned with flowers and a photograph of Jyothirmai, candles were lit in the building where the young woman had been a postgraduate student in health sciences. It was a time for “reflection and deep sadness”, said Ehsan.

At the condolence meeting were representatives of the European Telegu Association, the Indian consul general in Birmingham, Jordana Diengdoh Pavel, and Jyothirmai’s friends and fellow students.

The university’s long-standing chancellor, Lord Swraj Paul, sent a condolence message from London, while the vice-chancellor, professor Caroline Gipps, paid her own tribute in what were extraordinary circumstances for a British educational establishment.

“We have all been shocked by the tragic news of the death of one of our students,” she said.

By all accounts, she added, Jyothirmai was “bright, hardworking and a model international student. Our deepest sympathies have been conveyed directly to the parents of Miss Vempala. Our priority remains offering them comfort and full support in their grief”. By coming together, the university had remembered Jyothirmai as her parents would have wished — “a dutiful daughter who had enhanced life’s opportunities”.

The Indian high commission is wondering whether it should add to the advice it offers the 20,000 students who come to the UK from India each year for higher studies.

While some of the dos and don’ts amount to common sense — such as bringing an overcoat for winter — other advice risks straying into the personal domain.

For young women in particular coming from conservative, small towns to be pitched into mixed hostels and pressed by men into taking that extra glass of wine “can be quite a culture shock”, one diplomat admitted. From having very little freedom to having complete freedom can be an intoxicating experience. Also, it seems, Indian men bring some of their cultural baggage — they find it hard to take rejection from their countrywomen.

It is early days but in the light of Jyothirmai’s murder, Indian officials are pondering how they can be more helpful to the impressionable young men and women pouring into the UK from India.

Wolverhampton, like all other universities, offers counselling services to help its students on a wide range of issues, from depression to relationship troubles, contraception, pregnancy and abortion, but whether an Indian girl from a sheltered background would have the courage to seek such assistance seems doubtful.

Jyothirmai had been in Britain for only eight months.