An 18-year-old first-year student of the GMERS Medical College and Hospital in Dharpur in Patan died after fainting in the college hostel. While the postmortem report is awaited, his classmates claim that the student, identified as Anil Methaniya, died after being made to stand for three hours during a ragging session by their seniors. Police have registered a case of accidental death and initiated investigation.
Methania, who hailed from Jesda urendranagar’s village in Surendrana Dhrangadhra taluka, had come to the college just a month ago.
Students, upon interrogation, claimed that they had been summoned by their seniors via messages on a WhatsApp group.
“They forced us to keep standing and asked us not to get agitated. At last, a student, who was also standing with us, fell unconscious. We rushed him to a hospital where he died,” he said on condition of anonymity. Attempts to revive him failed and he was declared dead.
College dean Dr Hardik Shah said the antiragging committee of the college has initiated a probe into the matter, and punitive measures will be taken against the senior students if they are found responsible for ragging. The student’s body was sent for postmortem examination and a case of accidental death was registered, an official from Balisana police station said.
A cousin of Methaniya told reporters that the family was hopeful of getting justice from the college and government.
“I received a call from my uncle that my cousin was hospitalisedafter falling unconscious. When I arrived here, I learnt that he had died,” said Dharmendra Methaniya.
“We are waiting for the postmortem report to find out the exact cause of death. We have found out that some third-year students made him stand for two-three hours as part of ragging due to which he felt dizzy and collapsed,” he said.