LUCKNOW: The ongoing investigation into the alleged suicide of a second-year BDS student is being hampered by the delay in the submission of an internal report by Sharda University, according to Greater Noida police authorities.
Police officials claimed that the university’s five-member internal complaints committee was supposed to submit the probe report within five days, but it's been delayed for over a fortnight.
On July 18, a female student of the second year BDS course was found dead inside her room 1209(C) on the 12th floor of Mandela hostel of Sharda University at around 8.45 pm. The victim hailed from Gurugram and was spotted hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room after a student of the neighbouring room number 1209(B) received a call from the deceased’s parents to check on her as she was not picking their call.
The college authorities, without informing the police or parents for over 90 minutes, rushed the girl to Sharda Hospital, where doctors declared her dead upon arrival and alerted Knowledge Park police via 112. The deceased had left a suicide note naming two of her faculty members, accusing them of harassment and humiliation.
The parents submitted a complaint against five faculty members, including the dean of the dental department and an FIR was lodged against all five. The two teachers who were named by the deceased were arrested immediately.
The arrested assistant professor Shairy Vashist and associate professor Mahinder Singh Chouhan were languishing in jail, said the police, adding that a case under Sections 108 (abetment to suicide), 238 (destruction of evidence), 79 (insulting modesty of a woman), 352 (insult), and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) was registered against five faculty members of the college at Knowledge Park police station.
According to a senior police officer, the district police authorities had information that the internal complaint committee had submitted its report to the vice-chancellor of the university. “But it has not yet been handed over to the police. The university is delaying the report, citing its incompleteness,” said the police officer seeking anonymity.
He added that police had recorded statements of over 15 persons so far but further progress in the probe was being hampered by the absence of the report. “The probe conducted by the police authorities confirms that the university administration did not inform the police or parents for more than an hour after the incident. Later, they accused the deceased of underperformance and low attendance. If this was the case, they would not have issued an admit card to the student for annual exams,” argued the officer, adding that they are examining laptop, mobile, and other electronic gadgets to collect evidence.
The statements of the deceased’s parents were also recorded by the committee and the police. The cop claimed that police statements were recorded before the Knowledge Park police on August 1 and all the evidence were submitted to the Supreme Court committee.
“We are also waiting for the report, but we were informed that the committee is unable to finalise it due to errors flagged by their legal team. They (university) are powerful and not ready to listen anything,” said the deceased’s father. However, the university did not respond to any questions related to the report.
