Kerala nursing student didn't face ragging, says university probe; claims suicide attempt

A university probe into the Kerala Dalit student ‘ragging’ case stated that the victim had tried to commit suicide because of family problems. “It was no ragging incident. The girl tried to commit suicide due to family problems,” a report prepared by the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) stated, as reported by ManoramaNews. The girl’s uncle however dismissed the reports saying that there were no problems in the girl’s family, says the report further. [caption id=“attachment_2504916” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Karnataka police. Representational image. Image courtesy: PTI[/caption] The incident  came to light on 21 June, when the victim, Aswathy, a 19-year-old Dalit first year nursing student from Kerala, was admitted to admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital (KMCH) with serious stomach problems. She was reportedly forced to drink toilet cleaner by her seniors at the women’s hostel of Al Qamar College of Nursing, Gulbarga. The victim said the seniors abused her for her dark complexion, and for her father deserting his family a few years ago, reported The Times of India. Based on her statement, police in Kozhikode had registered an FIR on 22 June against five of her seniors. On 25 June, three senior students were arrested from the nursing college based on the victim’s allegations and sent to judicial custody. Meanwhile college administrator M M Baigh, said the girl had consumed the toilet cleaning solution herself. “We had rushed her to a hospital when it came to our notice. She had recovered from it and resumed coming to college,” he said, as reported by The Times Of India.