Last absconding resident doctor held in Surat GMC ragging-suicide case

Surat, Oct 29 (PTI) Police have arrested the last absconding resident doctor in connection with the suicide of a first-year postgraduate student who had allegedly faced ragging at Government Medical College (GMC) here.

    "Nirali Vasave (29), a resident of Vyara in Tapi district, was arrested on Thursday," an official release said.

     Vasave was one of the four resident doctors who had allegedly ragged Harsh Pandya, who was found hanging in his hostel room on August 9.

    The other three -- Anuj Maheshwari, Dikshita Ghewaria and Hina Bhut -- were arrested earlier this month.

    Initially, the case was registered as an accidental death. As the evidence of a possible criminal act emerged, the victim's father lodged a formal complaint, the release said.

     Khatodara Police in the city registered a case under section 108 (abetment of suicide) and other relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act based on the report of the anti-ragging committee.

     The accused allegedly harassed 10 first-year residents of the microbiology department. Ever since Pandya joined the course in March-April, he faced harassment, the police said.

     The accused doctors subjected Pandya and others to humiliation and lodged false complaints with faculty members alleging that they were not performing their duties, the complaint said.

    On August 5, the seniors allegedly sent WhatsApp messages to the first-year students summoning them to the microbiology department's serology lab, where they detained them for two hours and mentally harassed and humiliated them with crude remarks, the complaint stated.

    A high-level committee formed to look into the matter issued show-cause notices to microbiology department head Dr Sumaiya Mulla and faculty members Dr Sangeeta Rajde, Dr Yogita Mistry and Dr Latika Purohit.

    The anti-ragging committee, however, concluded that there was no evidence of physical abuse, or that Pandya's death resulted from such abuse.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)