A 25-year-old medical student was found dead in her car in Dehradun. The father has accused the HOD of harassment, while the institute has claimed that the student was already mentally ill. The police is investigating the matter
A sad news has come out from Dehradun. A 25-year-old medical student was found dead inside her car in Patel Nagar area here in the early hours of Wednesday. The name of the student was Tanvi and she was a resident of Ambala, Haryana. Tanvi was studying Master of Surgery (Ophthalmology) from Sri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences for the last three years. She lived in a rented house with her mother in Dehradun. Her father, who is an Ayurveda doctor in Ambala, has made serious allegations against his daughter’s Head of Department (HOD). He says that his daughter took this dreadful step after being fed up with the harassment of the HOD.
The father told that when the daughter stopped picking up the phone late on Tuesday night, he got scared and left for Dehradun. He said, “She was very upset because of her HOD. The HOD was promoted only about four months ago. Since then he was pressurizing my daughter not to have any contact with her thesis guide and the old HOD.”
He further said, “When my daughter refused citing her thesis, the HOD started giving her ‘0’ marks in the duty log. While she was good in studies and earlier she used to get ‘6’ marks on average. On Tuesday too, she called me and told me about the continuous harassment. Later when she did not answer my calls and did not even return home, I feared that she might have taken some wrong step.”
Father reached Dehradun at around 3 in the morning. She found her daughter unconscious in her car parked near a temple near the hospital where she was on duty. He said, “I broke the rear window of the car and saw that he had a cannula in his left hand. He had injected some chemical into his body. I immediately took him to the hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead. We are completely heartbroken and want justice. We have lodged a complaint at the Patelnagar police station.”
Police have confirmed receiving the complaint. Senior Sub-Inspector Pramod Shah said that the investigation of the case is going on. “However, a case has not been registered yet as the police are investigating the allegations made in the complaint. Appropriate legal action will be taken based on the investigation,” he said.
The student already had mental health problems: Institute Management
At the same time, the institute management says that the student already had mental health problems and was undergoing treatment. SGRRIMHS Chief PRO Bhupendra Raturi said, “Information has been received that he had attempted suicide twice before — once two years ago and again on December 31 last year. His parents were aware of this and were getting him psychiatric treatment.”
“In view of his condition, his parents were living near the campus. Written consent from his parents regarding his mental illness was also submitted to the office of the Medical Superintendent in the past,” he said.
The institute said that the matter has been informed to Dehradun SSP. “He was brought to the hospital emergency by his guardian around 3:15 am, where doctors declared him brought dead.”
The statement further said, “We would also like to point out that some people are taking undue advantage of the situation and are talking about registering an FIR to tarnish the image of the doctors and the hospital, which is not right. This will have a negative impact on the morale of the doctors. We humbly request you to take cognizance of the matter and take necessary action.”
Disclaimer: Suicide is not the solution to any problem. If you are also having thoughts of suicide or hurting yourself, then you can immediately take help from family, friends and psychiatrist. Apart from this, you can also ask for help by calling these helpline numbers. Aasra (Mumbai) 022-27546669, Sumaitri (Delhi) 011-23389090, Roshni (Hyderabad) 040-66202000, Lifeline 033-64643267 (Kolkata). In case of mental stress, you can get help sitting at home by contacting helpline numbers 14416 and 1800 8914416 for counselling.