MP HC to hear plea on alarming rise in medical students suicides on July 28
Madhya Pradesh High Court
Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court will take up the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) highlighting the "alarming trend" of suicide rate in State medical colleges on July 28.
Noting that the advocate for the petitioner appeared via video conferencing, the Division bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay on Wednesday (July 23) listed the matter for further hearing on Monday, when the counsel is expected to appear in person.
The plea has been filed by a social worker, Bhargava, who claimed that Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu together accounted for nearly 1/3rd of the country's total suicide count.
Referring to data from 'Students Suicide: An Epidemic Sweeping India, Volume 2' report published by IC3 Institute, the plea also claimed that gender-wise, male student suicides are higher than female student suicide counts. It mentioned over the last 10 years that the male student suicide increased by 50% while female student suicides increased by 61%.
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The plea also cited the UNICEF report titled 'The State of the World's Children', and highlighted the broader mental health crisis among the youth. It pointed out that the report stated that one in seven yound individuals between the ages of 15-24 in India experienced poor mental health. Meanwhile, only 41% of those who participated in the survey acknowledged the need to seek support for mental health challenges, which indicated substantial stigma and a lack of awareness regarding mental health issues.
Regarding the private medical colleges across the State, the plea alleged a disturbing trend of camouflaging student suicide as natural deaths. As per the latest media report by Live Law, the plea alleged that due to non-action, omission and commission of the respondents, the situation has worsened. It claimed that most "Private Medical Colleges camouflage the death as a natural death" and the "parents do not show the courage to bring the matter to the authorities concerned". The plea alleged that either the parents are threatened by the private medical colleges or there are reasons which are difficult to understand but easy to infer.
The petitioner argued that the private medical colleges often discouraged families from reporting such cases of suicides, and in several instances, exerted pressure to suppress information. Referring to this, the plea claimed that this culture of silence not only obstructed justice but also perpetuated an environment of neglect and fear.
It stated that the parliamentary debates in 2024, specifically those referencing medical colleges in Madhya Pradesh, highlighted these concerns and a National Commission Task Force also acknowledged Madhya Pradesh's concerning suicide trends and identified it as the third-highest state in terms of student suicide rates.
Referring to the Task Force created by the National Medical Commission to discuss the rising suicide rates, the plea added, "the report of the National Task Force highlight the fact that Madhya Pradesh is Number-3 State where suicide rate is increasing every year."
Filing the plea, the petitioner has sought a direction to the State authorities to improve the working conditions and the environment in the medical colleges and also other Colleges (both private and government) across the State. Further, it also sought a high-level inquiry regarding the suicides committed by the students in the last 10 years in the various colleges in the State.
