GMERS ragging death case: College submits action report to UGC, family says 'What kind of doctors will accused become with such criminal minds?'

Patna: Providing details regarding the horrifying ragging incident where an 18-year-old first-year MBBS student died after allegedly being forced to stand for three hours by his seniors, the authorities of the GMERS Medical College and Hospital, Patna submitted an action taken report (ATR) to the University Grants Commission (UGC) in connection.

In the report, the authorities specified the action taken so far regarding the seniors involved in the case. They shared details about the number of students connected to the ragging incident, the actions taken against them, and the identification of all victims. Furthermore, they updated UGC about their implementation of the anti-ragging regulations and the committee meetings held after the incident.

Also read- Forced to stand, dance for 3 hours! GMERS MBBS student dies after ragging, 15 seniors booked

Speaking on this, an official from the Medical College told TOI, "The UGC sought an action taken report from the college, seeking details of the circumstances of the death, how many students were involved in the ragging incident, and who all were victimised. The commission also asked what steps were taken by the college so far. We submitted the action taken report to the UGC stating that an official police complaint was lodged against the perpetrators who are second-year students. These students were also suspended from all academic activities."

Medical Dialogues team had previously reported that Altogether 15 seniors were suspended and booked in a criminal case. According to a statement of a first-year student, some junior students including the deceased student were forced to stand for around three hours and introduce themselves individually. They were also allegedly forced to sing and dance, utter abusive words and not leave the room.

The name of the accused students in this case emerged after the college authorities informed the anti-ragging cell of the matter. The committee chaired by Dean Dr Hardik Shah took the statements of 26 students—11 first-year and 15 second-year students—and found that 11 first-year students were subjected to ragging by a group of 15 second-year students.

The incident took place last week after the accused students called 11 first-year students, including the deceased and his classmates, to a hostel room for an "introduction". They made the juniors stand for nearly three-and-a-half hours while forcing them to sing and dance, utter abusive words and not leave the room. This allegedly caused serious mental and physical trauma to the students.

In an interview with NDTV, the victim's cousin recalling the tragic incident said, "We got a call at night and were told that my brother had been hospitalised. We were asked to rush to the hospital at the earliest. Four of us reached the hospital around 4 am and we came to know my brother had died and the body had been sent for postmortem. At the meeting there where the dean and cops were present, we came to know ragging happened. Seniors were questioned,"

Questioning the intention of the accused seniors, his cousin said "Those who are doing these acts have a criminal mind, medicine is a service sector, how will they work there? Will they improve or harm the country's future? What kind of doctors will they become with such criminal minds, their studies should be stopped and they must be sentenced to life imprisonment."

Further, he said, "He was an excellent student. He was the top student across two-three villages, the first in our family who got through MBBS. We saw a future doctor in him," he said.

Also read- Medical Colleges Responsible to Implement NMC Anti-Ragging Measures: Gujarat Govt