The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea filed by a medical student seeking discharge in connection with the death of a junior student at Dharpur Medical College in Balisana, Patan district.
The court observed that there was prima facie sufficient evidence indicating the student’s involvement in the incident.
An FIR had been lodged at Balisana Police Station against Hiren Prajapati and several other students of Dharpur Medical College for allegedly ragging first-year students and subjecting them to torture for about three and a half hours. The prolonged harassment reportedly led to the death of student Anil Patel due to trauma.
In his defense, Prajapati claimed he was unaware of any intention to cause Patel’s death and denied inflicting physical or mental cruelty on him. His counsel further argued that the post-mortem attributed the cause of death to cardio-respiratory arrest following an epileptic seizure.
However, the High Court refused to accept these submissions, noting that the petitioner had played a role in confining and torturing the deceased for over three and a half hours.