GMERS Medical College Incident: 15 Medical Students Accused for Junior's Death Due to Ragging in Gujarat

An 18-year-old first-year medical student, Anil Natwarbhai Methaniya, dies after allegedly being ragged at a medical college in Gujarat. Methaniya hails from Jesda village in Surendranagar district and was allegedly subjected to a three-hour stand during a late-night introduction session organised by seniors at the hostel between Saturday evening and early Sunday morning.

In GMERS Medical College Incident 18-Year-Old Dies 

Methaniya collapsed around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday and was rushed to the civil hospital attached to the college. On arrival, he was declared dead. Based on the complaint filed by Dr. Anilkumar Gokulsingh Bhatija, the Additional Dean of the college, after an investigation by the anti-ragging committee of the institution, police registered the FIR. The FIR implicated 15 second-year students, including Avdhesh Ashok Patel, Hiren Mansukh Prajapati, among others, and charges were framed under several sections of BNS that includes culpable homicide not amounting to murder, wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, and obscene acts.

The FIR states that the episode started at around 8:30 pm on Saturday when the first and second year students gathered in the common room of the hostel for boys. The accused allegedly made the first-year students stand for hours, sing, dance, and even tolerate verbal abuse. A Statements taken from 26 witnesses, and 11 of whom appeared in the court also corroborated these allegations.

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The Anti-Ragging committee, headed by the Dean, Dr. Hardik Shah, found the accused guilty of misconduct. All 15 students were suspended from the hostel and academic activities. In this connection, Inspector P.J. Solanki of the Balisana police station confirmed that arrests would be made soon. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ABVP in the meanwhile protested, seeking strong action against the accused and accountability from the college administrations. The protest turned into riots with the police on Sunday night. This incident has once again set a blazing topic on the agenda: campus safety and stricter implementation of anti-ragging measures. It cuts starkly to the pressing need for systemic reforms to avoid such tragedies happening in educational institutions.