A second year student of Maharani Laxmibai Medical College, Jhansi was found hanging in his hostel room on the morning of March 2, local papers reported. The police have registered a complaint against the head of the Pharmacology department of the college and others. The complaint has been registered under sections related to abetment of suicide and under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of the IPC. The brother of the deceased student has alleged that the head of the department used to harass the student.
According to reports, Ashwini Kumar, had failed three courses in his first year and was to appear for the examinations on March 2. He was apparently under stress. His friends found him hanging from the ceiling fan of his hostel room on the morning of the exam.
Kumar’s brother Manoj, has said that Ashwini had, over phone calls, told him about alleged caste-discrimination at the hands of the head of the department. The department head had threatened to fail him at times, the brother added.
The college administration, has however, denied the allegations. They submitted a memorandum on March 5 to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) claiming there was no discrimination on campus. Stating that no suicide note had been found on the student and the college had not received any oral or written complaint from him, they have called the police case “baseless”.
Maharani Laxmibai Medical College is a government-run college under Bundelkhand University, Jhansi. The college has been functional since 1968.
__