West Bengal: Student dead, ragging complaint against 9 seniors

KOLKATA: A medical student at National Institute for Locomotor Disabilities in Baranagar was found hanging in his hostel room late on Monday, leading to an uproar on the campus against alleged ragging, which had reportedly driven the youth to death.

Priyaranjan Singh (22), a second-year student of occupational therapy and a resident of Gaya in Bihar, reportedly died while being taken to College of Medicine & Sagore Dutta Hospital on a bike. A suicide note was found in his room.

Singh's family lodged a complaint at the Baranagar police station against nine seniors, including a girl, for allegedly ragging him for months. The hospital authorities admitted to the allegations of ragging. "Following a complaint of ragging on Singh, the anti-ragging cell had held an inquiry in July and five senior students, found guilty, were suspended," said P P Mohanty, director, NILD, Baranagar.

Students launched an agitation on Monday night, alleging negligence by the hospital authorities. The agitators locked the hospital main gate from inside and did not allow senior officials, doctors, staff, patients and even police from entering the campus. The protest continued on Tuesday, with the students claiming that NILD had no infrastructure for even emergency medical services or Singh's life could have been saved. Around 11.45pm on Monday, Singh's friends found his hostel room locked. "We broke the door to find him hanging from the fan. He was alive while we rescued him but didn't get emergency treatment at our hospital. There is not even an ambulance service. He died while being taken to Sagore Dutta hospital," said Nilkantha Bhattacharya, a student.

According to hospital sources, Singh took admission to the institute in Bonhooghly in 2021. His family alleged since he was ragged by some senior, they had gone to the anti-ragging cell. "Some seniors in the hostel tortured him physically and mentally. We had lodged a complaint at the anti-ragging cell, but the accused threatened my brother and continued to rag him. Only a few days ago, he said he wanted to leave the medical college. We convinced him to stay back," said Prabin Ranjan, his brother. "An unnatural death case has been started. We are looking into the suicide note and ragging plaint," said a senior Barrackpore officer.



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