North Bengal Medical College Physiotherapy Students Accuse PMR Dept member of harassment

Siliguri: Controversy erupted at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) after a first-year female intern student from the Physiotherapy section of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) Department of the institute accused the department’s member of mental harassment, verbal abuse, and intimidation.

The student alleged that the faculty member, a physiotherapist and in charge of the diploma course in the department, made inappropriate comments about her appearance, called her and her friends to his room, and gave them his phone number, asking them to contact him. Moreover, she alleged that she was deliberately failed in her exams and subjected to derogatory comments during class.

After this, the student reportedly filed a formal complaint against the member with Principal Dr. Indrajit Saha on April 4. In her complaint, she provided a detailed account of the incident, describing the alleged mental torture she faced.

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According to a latest media report by Bhaskar English, other students came forward with similar allegations as well. Another student who experienced similar harassment alleged that the member threatened to fail them in exams if they did not comply with his demands.

Despite a complaint being filed, no action was taken against the accused faculty member. As a result, students of NBMCH staged a protest on Wednesday, bringing all academic and clinical activities in the department to a standstill.

Holding placards and banners, the students protested by standing outside the department, demanding immediate action and a thorough investigation against the member.

Speaking to Bhaskar, the intern student said, "Sir abused me — he made inappropriate comments about my physical appearance, called me and some of my female friends to his room, gave us his contact details, and asked us to reach out to him. This is not how a professor should treat female students. We’ve had enough — that’s why we’ve raised our voices against him."

"Sir would always threaten us, saying if we didn’t listen to him, we wouldn’t pass our exams. Apart from this, I have also faced ragging by a second-year senior in my department. I filed a formal complaint and lodged an FIR at the local police outpost. But even after all that, the police just came and told us to resolve the matter mutually among ourselves.", said another female student.

“Professor ** often abuses students verbally. If anyone protests, they are threatened with exam failure and isolated from the group. Our protests are not just about one incident — it’s a culture of fear and silence we are challenging," said another student from the PMR department who previously faced ragging from senior students.

However, the protest was called off shortly after a meeting with department head Dr. Partha Pratim Pan, who agreed to remove the him from his position and place him on a 10-day leave pending investigation. A final decision is yet to be made and will be announced within seven days by an internal inquiry committee.

Head of the Department Dr. Partha Pratim Pan said, "I called ** and asked him about the allegations. He denied everything. I’ve issued him a warning, stating that if any more complaints come in, I’ll have to report the matter to higher authorities. However, I want to clarify — I do not have the power to dismiss or transfer anyone. That authority lies with higher officials, and I can only escalate the matter to them."

Responding to these allegations, the teacher of the PMR department refuted the claims made by the students and called them “false and baseless”. He told Millennium Post, “No such incident has taken place in the department."

An internal committee has been constituted to probe the allegations, and disciplinary action will be taken based on its findings. It has been reported that if the college administration fails to take any action within the promised timeline, the students threatened to renew protests and escalate the matter further.

Due to this incident, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) has once again come under the spotlight. Medical Dialogues previously reported that junior doctors and students at NNMCH raised their voices against the ongoing culture of threats, systemic corruption, exam malpractices and malpractices such as mark sheet tampering within the institution.

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