Troubled by ragging, Dalit medical student commits suicide: Senior was harassing PG first year student in Telangana

Dalit medical student D. Preethi (26) died late on Sunday night in Telangana’s Hyderabad. Preeti, a student of post graduation first year, attempted suicide four days ago after being upset with the ragging of her senior Mohammad Saif. He had given himself injections of poison. Preeti was admitted to the hospital in Hyderabad but she succumbed to her injuries on 26 February.

On the complaint of Preeti’s father Narendra, Mohd Ali Saif, a second year post graduation student in Preeti’s college, has been arrested. A case has been registered against him for ragging, abetment to suicide and under the SC/ST Act. He also accused the college and hospital administration of negligence. He said that Preeti had lodged complaints against the accused at both the places, but no action was taken.

Preeti had told the doctors about pain in her head and stomach.

Warangal Police Commissioner AV Ranganath said that Preeti, a first-year post-graduation student at Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal, was working the night shift at MGM Hospital on February 22. This is where he attempted suicide. He was last seen in the emergency ward where he was on duty.

She was then seen when she came out of her room and told some doctors that she had pain in her head and stomach. Later she was found unconscious. He was shifted to Hyderabad in critical condition.

The police commissioner said that the WhatsApp chat between the two shows that the accused was taking Preeti’s ragging. He said that further investigation will be done on the basis of toxicology report.

Tribal communities are protesting, the family refused to conduct postmortem of the body

Several Lambada Tribal Unions protested outside Hyderabad’s NIMS Hospital, Kakatiya Medill College and Warangal’s MGM Hospital over Preeti’s death. Preeti’s family has also refused to send Preeti’s body for postmortem from NIMS hospital.

The governor announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for Preeti’s family.

The National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for SC/ST have taken cognizance of the matter and sent notices to the government, the superintendent of MGM Hospital and the head of the department of anesthesiology, and the college principal. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan visited Preethi in the hospital. He has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for Preeti’s family.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has shared his pain regarding the increasing incidents of suicides of students in IIT institutes. He said, ‘It is worrying to think about these incidents. My heart hurts when I think about the parents of those children. Let me tell you, on February 12, Darshan Solanki, a first year student of Gujarat had committed suicide in IIT Bombay.

Three days after IIT Bombay student Darshan Solanki committed suicide, his sister and aunt have accused his friends. He said- Darshan had told that his friends used to discriminate against him on the basis of caste. Although the authority of IIT Bombay said that there is no discrimination of any kind in the campus.

Two months ago, junior doctor Akanksha Maheshwari (24) committed suicide in the hostel in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. She was doing PG in Pediatric Department from Gandhi Medical College. Police have got injections and syringes from the spot. It is feared that Akanksha has taken this suicidal step by taking an overdose of medicine. The police is investigating the case.

Courtesy: Dainik Bhaskar

Note: This news piece was originally published in dainikbhaskar.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights