4 Resident Doctors Booked for ‘Ragging’ After Surat GMC Student Dies by Suicide

Surat: Surat police on Tuesday registered a case against four resident doctors of Government Medical College (GMC) for their alleged involvement in ragging a 30-year-old first-year postgraduate student, Harsh Pandya, who died by suicide, officials said.

The FIR was registered against four second-year PG students of GMC, affiliated with New Civil Hospital, after Pandya was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on the morning of August 9, an official from Khatodara police station said.

The accused students, Nirali Vasave, Anuj Maheshwari, Dikshita Ghewaria and Hina Bhut, have already been suspended from the institute for six months after the anti-ragging committee found them responsible for allegedly harassing 10 first-year students, including Pandya.

Police booked the four under Sections 127(2), 352 and 54 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), relating to wrongful confinement, intentional insult and an abettor being present at the scene of an offence.

GMC Dean Dr Jayesh Brahmbhatt said the FIR was filed at Khatodara police station against the four students found guilty by the institute’s anti-ragging committee following a ragging incident in the microbiology department.

According to the complaint, second-year resident doctors are not authorised to assign tasks to first-year residents. Despite this, the four accused allegedly harassed 10 first-year residents in the microbiology department over a period of time.

The complaint further alleged that the students, including Pandya, were subjected to humiliation and verbal abuse. The accused also allegedly made complaints to faculty members claiming that the first-year residents were not performing their duties. DeshGujarat