Express News Service
BHOPAL: Almost seven and half years after an 18-year-old girl student of a pharmacy college in the Madhya Pradesh hanged self to death at her residence following alleged ragging, a Bhopal court convicted her four college seniors and sentenced them to five years in prison.
The court of Additional District Judge Amit Ranjan Samadhiya held the four women guilty for abetting suicide of the 18-year-old girl and awarded each one of them five years jail term and a fine of Rs 2000 each. The fifth accused in the case, the pharmacy college’s faculty member Manish Gupta, however, was acquitted by the court in the want of conclusive evidence against him.
Detailing about the verdict, the government counsel Khalid Quereshi told The New Indian Express that the four accused, including Nidhi Magre, Dipti Solanki, Divyanshi Sharma and Kirti Gaur were held guilty by the court under IPC Section 306 (abetment of suicide). Each of them was awarded five years imprisonment along with Rs 2000 fine. The faculty member Manish Gupta was acquitted by the court.”
On August 6, 2013, Anita Sharma a B.Pharma second-year student of the RKDF College of Pharmacy in Bhopal, had allegedly hanged self to death at her residence in Jeevan Vihar Society of Bhopal’s Kamla Nagar police station area.
A suicide note purportedly written by Anita was seized by the city police, in which the B.Pharma student had blamed her four college seniors and a faculty member for the suicide.
As per the contents of the suicide note, the four senior students had been allegedly ragging her from the time she was enrolled in the college. She was forced by them to write their mid-semester copies and when she brought this to the notice of the faculty member Manish Gupta, he reportedly asked her to obey her seniors, if she wanted to continue in the college.
Later, on coming to know about Anita’s complaint, the four senior girl students of the college started harassing her further and threatened to throw acid on her as well as get her raped, the suicide note reportedly mentioned.
The National Human Rights Commission too had taken cognizance of the case and issued notices to the Principal Secretary, Department of Education and Training, Government of Madhya Pradesh and Senior Superintendent of Police, Bhopal to submit a report in the matter. The Commission had also directed the Principal Secretary, Department of Education and Training to inform as to what steps had been taken by the State Government and the professional colleges, in particular the RKDF College of Pharmacy, to prevent ragging.(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call AASRA’s 24×7 Helpline: +91-9820466726 for assistance.)
