MBBS students hangs himself after ragging

January 08, 2004
Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), January 7, A first year student of the Bilaspur Medical College on Wednesday committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan after being allegedly ragged by senior students. Although college and police authorities have ruled out the possibility of ragging in the campus, first-years have sought a judicial probe into the matter.Lokesh Yadav, a resident of Raipur, was studying for his MBBS degree while staying at the college hostel. On Wednesday, he did not attend his classes. When some students returned to the hostel, they found him hanging from the ceiling fan of his room.The police have registered a case of suicidal death and sent the body for postmortem."Circumstantial evidence points to suicide. How can we claim it was due to ragging? No case of ragging has been reported from the college so far," Bilaspur SP B.S. Maravi said. Son Mani, registrar of the Guru Ghashidas University under which the college functions, also echoed Maravi.But junior students differed. "Just a few days ago, seniors forced Lokesh to dance on one foot and sing lewd film songs. Lokesh was a really sensitive boy. I think he was unable to bear the humiliation any more, and chose the easy way out," said Sanjay (name changed), who says he has left the hostel because he could not stomach the 'harassment'.Many students told the Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity that they dared not report the matter to the authorities. They said their seniors had threatened them with dire consequences if they did so.