Four profs, principal booked over first-year BHMS student suicide
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Ahmedabad: A 19-year-old Dalit student’s suicide at Basna Merchant College for Homeopathy campus has left the town of Bahucharaji in Mehsana shaken. The first-year BHMS student hanged herself in her hostel room on Wednesday, allegedly due to persistent mental and physical harassment by four professors and inaction by the college principal, who allegedly called it a “part of education”.
The five — professors V S Rao Vasnik, Prashant Nuval, Y C Bose, Dr Sanjay Reethe, and principal Kailash Patil — have been booked for abetment to suicide and detained by Mehsana taluka police for questioning, after the girl’s advocate father filed an FIR naming them. He later alleged to local media in Mehsana that she was harassed because she was from a scheduled caste.
At around 1.30 pm on Wednesday, the complainant received a distress phone call from his daughter’s hostel mate, informing him that she was being rushed to the Mehsana Civil Hospital after a suicide attempt. Upon reaching the hospital, he and his wife found the girl lying on a stretcher in the trauma centre, but dead. He stated in the FIR that foul play cannot be ruled out, looking at the red marks around her neck and bruises on her body.
The FIR states that the deceased earlier confided in her father about being targeted by the professors. She accused them of persistent harassment, including verbal abuse, public humiliation, and inappropriate physical contact. While she raised the issue before the principal, Patil, no action was taken. “She reportedly told him that the professors frequently insulted her, gave her excessive academic work, forced her to stand for long hours, and inappropriately touched her under various pretexts. Additionally, the principal of the college allegedly dismissed her grievances, stating that enduring such treatment was a part of education,” reads the FIR.
Meanwhile, urging authorities to take strict action against those responsible for his daughter’s death, the complainant alleged before mediapersons in Mehsana that her caste was a reason behind the mistreatment she faced at the institution.
Mehsana DySP Milap Patel, the investigating officer of the case, said the accused have been booked for abetment to suicide under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, adding they have been detained for questioning.
Courtesy : TOI
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