3 min readAhmedabadAug 12, 2026 10:17 AM IST
First published on: Aug 11, 2026 at 08:36 PM IST
Day after their suspension following the alleged suicide of 30-year-old junior resident doctor Harsh Pandya on Sunday, four senior resident doctors of Government Medical College, Surat, were booked on charges of wrongful confinement and causing mental harassment.
The FIR was registered at Khatodara police station based on a complaint filed by medical college dean Dr Jayesh Brahmbhatt, citing the findings of the anti-ragging committee.
The accused students — Nirali Vasave, Anuj Maheshwari, Dishita Gevariya and Hinaben Bhut — were suspended from the institute for six months on Monday after the institute’s anti-ragging committee found them involved in harassing 10 first year students, including Pandya.
The four resident doctors were booked under BNS Sections 127 (2) (wrongfully confining any person), 352 (intentional insults intended to provoke a breach of public peace) and 54 (person who helped or encouraged a crime is also present when it happens).
The FIR alleged that on August 5, one of the accused Dr Gevariya left a message on a common WhatsApp group asking the first-year Post Graduate Microbiology students to come to the Microbiology department’s Serology laboratory.
“All 10 students, including the late Dr Harsh Pandya, present in the laboratory were forced by seniors to sit for two hours, and during this time, they (seniors) mentally harassed them using abusive language and insulted them,” the FIR said.
On Sunday morning (August 9), Dr Pandya was found dead in his hostel room by colleagues who came looking for him after he did not turn up for duty.
Khatodara police station inspector N V Bharvad said, “We have booked four senior students of Microbiology Department of GMC, Surat, for harassment and wrongful confinement. We will go ahead with the procedures to arrest them.”
Surat New Civil Hospital Resident Medical Officer Dr Ketan Naik said, “These first-year students were admitted around three months ago and they would have to spend most of their time in the laboratory doing practicals. Last week, 10 first-year students were allegedly harassed by four of their 10 seniors.”
Following State Health Minister Praful Pansheriya’s directions, the medical college had set up a 12-member anti-ragging committee to probe the allegations.
The committee held an eight-hour meeting, which ended around 4 am on Monday, recording statements of over 90 people, including fellow students, faculty members, lab technicians, and the parents of Dr Pandya. The committee was headed by Dr Chandresh Tailor, Head of Forensic Science Medicine Department at GMC who submitted the report to the Dean.
Four students of Surat Medical College were suspended for six months over the incident (Photo: Facebook@Government Medical College, Surat) 
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