Indore: A recent video has gone viral on social media wherein the doctors and medical teachers at the Government Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College sprinkled Gangajal on the premises of the 150-year-old King Edward Medical School building after a spooky Halloween party was allegedly held on its campus.
According to recent media reports, the building was defaced for a Halloween party; ghostly messages-- “You made a mistake” and “RIP,” written on the wall as part of the Halloween decorations, left many feeling uneasy at the campus. Pictures of the building, shared on social media, showed it painted to look haunted. Speaking to PTI, eyewitnesses said the walls of the building were marked with "O Stree, Kal Aana" (lines inspired by a horror comedy movie) and several scary sentences written in English. Obscene pictures and objectionable lines have also been engraved, they said.
Office-bearers of the Medical Teachers' Association (MTA) and other doctors sprinkled Gangajal in the King Edward Medical School building, constructed in 1878 during the British Raj.
"We learned that a Halloween party was recently held in this building. We have purified the building area by sprinkling Gangajal," MTA president Rahul Rokde told PTI.
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Amid uproar, the college management claimed it didn't grant permission to hold the "Halloween" event in the historical building. The MTA president demanded that the medical college management lodge an FIR against those responsible for defacing the historical building in the name of a 'Halloween party'.
"We had allowed representatives of a local organisation, called Jain Social Group, to inspect the premises of King Edward Medical School. We didn't permit a Halloween party," said college dean Dr Sanjay Dixit.
Dixit claimed no Halloween party was organised in the historical building, adding that the investigation would be conducted to know the facts.
"From the pictures that have surfaced on social media, we came to know that this building was painted as a haunted building for the Halloween party. We cannot tolerate such an act because this building is a heritage of the medical field and alma mater of many reputed doctors," said Government Super Speciality Hospital Superintendent Dr Sumit Shukla, an alumnus of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College.
"We want the building's renovation to preserve the rich history of Indore's medical fraternity," he added.
"We wanted to cleanse the area after the unsettling decorations and messages appeared on the walls," one of the teachers told the Free Press Journal. "It’s important to maintain the sanctity of this place, and using ‘Ganga jal’ is a way for us to do that."
Halloween is celebrated in many countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. In popular culture, the day has become a celebration of horror.
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