HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court deemed the suicide of Dr Dharawath Preethi, a first-year postgraduate medical student at the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC), as a matter of public interest on Tuesday and issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary of the Medical and Health Department, Director of Medical Education, Warangal Commissioner of Police, and KMC principal and head of the department of anaesthesia.
The high court took up the incident as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) after receiving a letter from M Mallaiah, president of the Scheduled Tribes Employees Welfare Association, BHEL Ramachandrapuram, Hyderabad. The letter highlighted the case of Dr Preethi, a first-year MD anaesthesia student, who belonged to a Scheduled Tribe and died as a result of ragging by her seniors.
Despite the deceased’s parents lodging complaints with the police and other authorities, their attempts to bring the culprits to justice were unsuccessful, the petitioner said, urging the court to direct the police to file a criminal complaint against Dr Md Saif, the main suspect in the case, and his accomplices under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the death of Dr Preethi and provide compensation to her parents for their loss.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji presided over the case and issued notices to all parties involved, requesting them to present their arguments before the court.