LUCKNOW: Based on the father's police complaint, five faculty members, including the dean and head of department of the dental school at Sharda University, Greater Noida, have been named in the FIR linked to the alleged suicide of a second-year BDS student on Friday evening.
The university administration has set up a committee to investigate the matter, with the victim’s project files emerging as a key focus in the ongoing probe into the suicide case.
The victim allegedly took the extreme step after facing days of taunts from faculty over an accusation of forging a signature.
Notably, the student died by hanging herself in her hostel room of the University.
In the suicide note, she has made serious allegations of harassment against two faculty members who were taken into custody and were suspended by the university administration.
According to the sources, the student was facing the charge of forging a professor's signature which left her visibly distressed. The student was reportedly told by the professors to “not show her face” in class again.
However, the victim had denied the allegation. The sources also said that following the scolding by the teacher, the student's father was called to campus on July 14.
Later, he told the police that during the meeting with the department head and professors, he had raised concerns about the harassment his daughter was being subjected to. He was assured by the HOD that there would be no such issues henceforth.
Still, the student reportedly told friends that although the HOD was cordial to her father, some professors remained hostile.
The professor who initially confronted her is among two faculty members now in judicial custody. Both were named by the victim in the suicide note recovered by the police from the site of incident.
According to the police sources, the complaint of the victim’s father mentioned that she was reprimanded by another professor during a preclinical prosthodontics class for "complaining too much."
The sources claimed that on the day of the incident, the victim attended morning classes and worked on her lab submissions after an afternoon class was cancelled.
Around that time, she reportedly visited the staff room to get a professor’s signature but returned from the staff room in anguish.
She told her batch mates that the professor had mocked her and humiliated her alleging that she used to sign her own projects.
When she approached another professor to sign her PCP samples, she was once again accused of forgery.
The sources claimed that the afternoon incident shattered the victim and she went back crying to the lab to redo her samples.
Around 4pm, she told her friends that she was going to her room.
According to her mother, the victim did not answer her call around 5 pm. She later spent time in another student’s room, where she reportedly broke down. By 9 pm, she was found dead.
The complaint given to police by the victim’s father mentioned the names of three more faculties including the HoD.
Sources claimed that she was a good student and had scored 368 out of 600 in the first year.
“It is necessary to submit the project file before appearing in the written exam. Jyoti was under stress because she did not have a sign," said a source seeking anonymity.
Police and university investigations are underway to determine whether academic pressure and alleged faculty conduct added to Jyoti's woes and also if proper support were in place for students under distress.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050, Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)