Indore, Feb 5 (PTI) The family members of an MBBS student who allegedly died by suicide at a government medical college hostel in Indore earlier this week claimed on Thursday that he was subjected to ragging and bullying at the institution.
They demanded a detailed probe into the student’s death.
The body of Antariksh Agrawal (20), a first-year MBBS student at Government Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room on February 2, police said.
His father, Pankaj Agrawal, told PTI over the phone, “After ragging and bullying in the college, my son was broken from within. We advised him to try and adjust to the situation for some time. We never imagined he would become frustrated and take such a step.” Agrawal, a businessman from Gwalior district, said when he went to Indore to collect his son’s body, police told him that the hostel CCTV footage was being obtained and his detailed statement would be recorded later.
“I want a detailed investigation into my son’s death,” he said.
Antariksh’s cousin Shruti Agrawal said he had taken admission in the medical college here last year.
“He told us about ragging and bullying in the college, saying junior students were forced to follow several rules made by their seniors,” she claimed.
According to Shruti, the alleged rules included that junior students could not sleep with their hostel room doors locked even at night, as seniors had the right to enter their rooms at any time.
“He also told me that juniors were not allowed to walk with their heads held high in front of seniors and had to look down at their shoes. If a senior was present in the mess, juniors had to eat standing. They had even fixed a dress code for juniors,” she said.
According to police, no suicide note was found and questioning of fellow students indicated that Antarisksh was allegedly under academic stress.
However, the student’s family is not ready to accept that he ended his life due to academic pressure.
“My brother secured admission to the medical college in Indore after clearing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) in his third attempt. He was among the top 50 students on the state merit list. He could not have been bogged down by academic stress,” Shruti claimed.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Tushar Singh said the family had not made any complaint to police about alleged ragging and bullying when the body was handed over to them after the post-mortem, and their formal statements were yet to be recorded.
“The family was in grief at the time of the post-mortem. They said they would record their statements calmly after the last rites. If they make statements regarding the alleged ragging and bullying aspect, we will investigate and take appropriate action,” he said.
An official from the medical college said the institution has constituted a committee to probe the cause of the student’s death and its inquiry is underway. PTI HWP LAL GK
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