Tragic Incident at Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College

In an unfortunate incident, a second-year MBBS student of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College of Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education & Research (DMIHER), Sawangi Meghe allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of the college building recently.

It is alleged that the 20-year-old student, who was a gold medalist in her first-year medical course, took the extreme step due to alleged academic and attendance pressure after the dean of the medical college allegedly denied her medical leave and detained her from appearing for the PCT2 exam due to lack of attendance. She had previously missed the PCT1 exam.

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As per Nagpur Today news report, the incident occurred when the student, who lived with her parents in Nagpur, arrived at the college with her driver on Thursday for her upcoming examination. However, shortly after, she went to the fourth floor of the college building and jumped. She fell right in front of the Dean's office and was rushed to the hospital but unfortunately, she died.

The medical college authorities are facing significant backlash following allegations that the dean made fun of the student's mental condition. It came to light that the student was allegedly suffering from depression due to her academic pressure. Hence, she asked for medical leave so that she could appear for the exam. However, the dean reportedly refused her leave and is accused of dismissing her depression as fake, calling it a trend.

After being unable to take the pressure, she reportedly took her life and jumped from the building leaving a snap that said 'I Quit'. Following her death, the medical students held a candle march against the alleged toxic administration.

Meanwhile, the parents of the deceased student blamed the college administration for their daughter's death. They alleged that the college was not allowing students to appear for examinations until the fees were paid. Due to stress over this, she ended her life.

As per the daily, the college administration has been also accused of insisting on the students regarding the payment of the fees. Some of the students requesting anonymity claimed that this puts stress on them along with other problems.

The unfortunate death of the student has called for a plea to the authorities to take the mental health of students seriously. Several doctors and medical students took to 'X' formerly known as Twitter and expressed their frustration about the dean and the authorities who they accused of pushing the student to death.

In a post on 'X', All India Medical Student's Association wrote, "*** was a 2nd year mbbs student at JNMC wardha. She committed suicide from the fourth floor of the college due to academic and attendance pressure. We request for policy changes and mental health of mbbs students to be taken seriously."

Another user said "This is totally irresponsibility. Kindly take action at least @NMC_IND and @PMOIndia @narendramodi"

"This situation is incredibly frustrating and concerning. How could a talented student, already battling depression, be pushed to such an extreme? The lack of support and understanding from the administration, especially the Dean's dismissive attitude, is shocking. This tragic incident highlights the urgent need for better mental health support and empathy in academic institutions. You can’t even think what her parents must be going through. This toxicity in medical colleges is taking lives of many young students," said a doctor on 'X'.

In this regard, Dr Lalitbhushan Waghmare, Vice-Chancellor of DMIHER, told the daily a thorough probe into the incident will be launched and the college administration will cooperate with the police.

Expressing shock over the incident, Dr Udhay Meghe, Special Executive Officer of the University, said "Nothing like this has happened in the University before. While the college administration blamed stress for her extreme step, her parents stated that the college administration’s apathetic attitude of not allowing students to appear for exams due to non-payment of fees was responsible for their daughter’s death."

After the police were informed of the incident, they sent her body for postmortem. PSO Sandeep Kapade of the Sawangi Police Station said "The police are waiting for the post-mortem report to give their probe further direction."

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