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MBBS intern suicide: SGPC-run med college refutes caste angle, points to family problem
Days after the Amritsar City Police booked teachers and students after an MBBS intern committed suicide in a hostel of Sri Guru Ramdas Medical College here for abetment to suicide and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, college dean Dr AP Singh denied the allegations.
Days after the Amritsar City Police booked teachers and students after an MBBS intern committed suicide in a hostel of Sri Guru Ramdas Medical College here for abetment to suicide and under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, college dean Dr AP Singh denied the allegations.
The intern’s batchmates, students and their parents on Monday protested against the FIR, terming it as a “one-sided action”. As per the college authorities, one student has been arrested, but the police did not confirm the development.
An MBBS intern committed suicide on March 10 in her hostel room. No suicide note was recovered from the spot. The victim’s mother in a complaint lodged to the police station, Vallah, stated that her daughter was upset over the alleged ‘casteist’ remarks. Based on the victim’s mother’s statement, an FIR was registered against as many as 10 teachers and batchmates under section 306 of IPC and SC/ST Act 1989.
The college claimed that one of the students was arrested in the case. Students, including those belonging to the SC community, parents of those booked and teachers protested against the ‘one-sided’ FIR.
“There was no caste discrimination with the deceased girl student nor any casteist remarks were used against her,” Dr AP Singh, dean of the college, said.
“The deceased girl was good in her studies. Her mother alleges that her classmates were stopping her from becoming a doctor as she belongs to the SC community, but in actuality, she had passed all the MBBS annual exams on the first attempt and she would have completed her internship by the next month. The allegations of her mother are false and baseless. As per her medical records, she was under mental stress for a long period of time due to her family circumstances and she was taking psychiatric treatment,” Dr AP Singh said.
He said around 400 SC/ST students are currently studying in this college. “No such complaint has ever been made by any SC/ ST student in the college. If the deceased girl was facing any such issues, she should have approached the college management, but it never happened. She could have also approached police or the SC/ST commission, but no such complaint was ever made,” he said.
“The police should conduct an impartial enquiry and if anything comes to the fore, then action should be taken as per the law. We are ready to cooperate with the police in the investigation. Some organisations are trying to politicise the issue,” he said.
SHO Jasbir Singh said that the probe report has been submitted to ACP (East) Gurpartap Singh Sahota. “I cannot comment on the issue,” the SHO said.
Despite repeated attempts, Sahota couldn’t be contacted for comments.
