New Delhi: A Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae has flagged Sharda University’s failure to promptly notify the police about the alleged suicide of a second-year dental student, noting it was the parents who registered the FIR.
Senior advocate Aparna Bhatt also submitted a report Monday on a similar suicide incident reported from IIT Kharagpur the same day as the Sharda University case. In this case, her report said, there was no violation of legal procedures.
Taking note of the rising number of student suicides, a Supreme Court bench of justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan appointed Bhatt as an amicus curiae after taking suo motu cognisance of news reports on the two instant cases.
When Bhatt’s report was placed before it, the bench enquired about the problems affecting these institutions and directed that investigations be expedited. It asked what the management at these institutes are doing to address such cases.
ThePrint has reached Sharda University, located in Greater Noida, for comment via email. The report will be updated if and when a response is received.
The report
The amicus curiae’s report stated that in the IIT Kharagpur case, where a fourth-year student died allegedly by suicide 18 July, the parents were immediately informed and an FIR was lodged by the institution. An ambulance was called, and after police permission, the room was forcibly opened for a doctor’s examination, who declared the student dead.
In contrast, the report says, in the Sharda University case, the parents were not informed promptly. Also, neither the wardens nor university authorities contacted the police or arranged for an ambulance.
“The body was brought down by security guards and carried on a bedsheet by four hostel staff members. The warden eventually called the parents, informing them that their daughter was in serious condition in the emergency room but did not mention suicide. It is assumed other students had already informed the parents. No call was made to the PCR,” the report said.
It further noted that a “hospital doctor” called the police. The body was taken to a government hospital in Noida for post-mortem and later released to the family for last rites.
“The FIR was registered by the parents, not the university. The family has not been in contact with either the university or police since,” the report added.
While no one was named in the FIR in the IIT Kharagpur case, two individuals mentioned in the purported suicide note by the Sharda University student have been arrested.
The post-mortem of the Sharda University student confirmed death by asphyxiation, and the investigation is ongoing, the report says. But, post-mortem details and investigation status in the IIT Kharagpur case remain unclear due to police non-responsiveness, the report added.
The 21-year-old student’s suicide was the fourth such case at IIT Kharagpur in the past five months. The report noted he had a good academic record (CGP 8.5) with only an insignificant dip in his last semester. He returned from holidays around 15-16 July.
On the first day of college reopening, he stayed alone in his room as his roommates had not returned. Around 11 am, his father asked hostel staff to clean the room. When the staff checked, he found the student hanging from the ceiling fan. The report does not mention why did the father call the hostel staff.
The police were informed within 20 minutes, an ambulance was called, and the parents were promptly notified, the report says, adding an FIR was registered.
Sharda University’s ‘delayed’ response
According to the report, the police said they received a call past 10 pm from the parents/family and the family had reached the hospital before they could arrive.
“The parents were very agitated. The series of protocols to be followed in such cases were violated by the university staff. The body had to be moved by the police, but the university staff took it upon themselves to do that. The scene was thus compromised because the warden entered and multiple people left fingerprints in the room,” the report stated, quoting the police version.
Secondly, the university hospital issued the medico-legal certificate (MLC) to the police, which is also against protocol. However, officers clarified that the MLC only mentioned that she had no pulse and so on, but no internal examination of the body was conducted by the university hospital, according to the report.
The police said the room was locked when they arrived, and they remained present until the forensic team reached to assess the scene, according to the report. “They (police) found the suicide note inside her notebook on her study table and even though the mother had identified the handwriting, the police had not yet verified if the handwriting was hers.”
“The police state that there was at least a 40-minute delay in taking the body to the hospital even though the hospital was just five minutes away,” the report stated.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
Also Read: SC issues pan-India guidelines to protect mental health of students in colleges & coaching centres