Odisha's 18-year-old girl dies by suicide in hostel room alleging ragging by seniors

|HT|

An 18-year-old girl pursuing her undergraduate degree in a reputed government college of Bhubaneswar allegedly died by suicide in her hostel room on Saturday alleging ragging and torture by her seniors, people aware of the matter said. The hostel’s superintendent, Jyoti Rath, said the girl studying BA (Honours) History course stayed back in her room and locked it from inside when her roommates left to attend classes at around 10 am.

“When she did not open the door till late, students raised alarm. Later, we broke open the door and found her dead,” she said.

In a suicide note, the girl said she was depressed after being constantly ragged and tortured by three of her seniors. She wrote that she could not share her plight with her parents and roommates. However, she did not mention the names of the seniors. The girl’s mother lodged a complaint at Badagada police station urging the police to find the culprits. The alleged suicide of the girl student comes about three months after a first-year MBBS student of Haryana studying in a state-run medical college in Bolangir district died by suicide on April 22 after he was allegedly tortured by his seniors.

Taking cognisance of the case, a three-member team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) early this week started an investigation into the death of the MBBS student. The deceased student’s mother alleged that the seniors in the medical college had made a WhatsApp group and used to call the juniors for ragging late at night. A few hours before his death, the MBBS student had called up his mother over a video call describing how senior students were harassing him.

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