‘Ragging’ death: The ‘brilliant’ student died barely a month after joining medical college

Besides being booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, 15 of Anil’s seniors have been suspended by the medical college following a report by its anti-ragging committee.

Inspector P J Solanki of Balisana police station told The Indian Express, “All 15 second-year students have been arrested.”

Back at the Methaniya house, the family says Anil was the only student from Jesada, a small village with an estimated population of 5,000 in Dhrangadhra taluka of Surendranagar, who had cracked the tough all-India pre-medical entrance exam.

The youngest among three siblings, Anil was the only son of Natwarbhai, 56, a farmer, and Gitaben, 53, a home-maker. Anil’s elder Sheetal, who got married in 2019, completed her graduation in science and education, while Nidhi is a physiotherapist.

“Anil was very excited about Nidhi’s February wedding. He had promised to help with all the preparations,” says Sheetal, 28.

After he finished his primary education from a private school in Dhrangadhra, 20 km from Jesada, Anil’s father shifted him to the Vivekananda Science Academy Sadhana Vidyalaya in Halvad, nearly 50 km from the village. In Class 9 and 10, Anil lived with his sister Sheetal and brother-in-law Hirenbhai in Dhrangadhra.

“He stayed with us for nearly two years. In all that time, he never asked for anything. However, we knew that he was fond of travelling and loved pizza. His last trip was to Shimla — the school took him there in Class 11,” says Hirenbhai.

Anil with his elder sister Nidhi, who is set to be married in February. (Special Arrangement)

While in Class 10, Anil had made up his mind that he wanted to become a doctor, says Gautam Methaniya, 23, his cousin who is an IT professional based in Ahmedabad.

“He was a brilliant student. He did not take any coaching classes but he still managed to crack NEET. He scored 550 in NEET and 90.57 percentile in GUJCET (Gujarat Common Entrance Test),” says Gautam.

Anil’s father says his hard-working son had just one dream — “to make his family proud”. Natwarbhai says, “If fulfilling his dream would have required me to sell my land, I would have done it in a heartbeat. He was absolutely fine when we last spoke. He was hale and hearty, and never complained of any health issues. He never even tested positive for Covid. At the time of his admission to college (in September), all his medical reports were normal.”

A farmer who owns 80 bighas, Natwarbhai says they had paid Rs 6 lakh as the fee for Anil’s first semester. “My wife, Nidhi and I dropped him to his hostel on October 14. All of us were excited since Anil would come home a fortnight later for Diwali vacation,” he says.

The family last spoke to Anil in the evening on November 16. “We spoke around 7.30 pm on Saturday (November 16). He called us daily in the evening. He sounded happy and spoke to everyone,” Natwarbhai recalls.

A call he received a few hours later would shatter their world irrevocably. “At 12.15 am (on November 17), a resident doctor at the GMERS college called me. He said Anil had fallen unconscious and had been admitted to the hospital,” says Natwarbhai, adding that they rushed to the college.

“We reached there around 4 am. At the hospital, a doctor informed us that Anil was no more,” he says.

Later, Natwarbhai says, the family was asked to attend a meeting, where the dean, the police, first-year students and seniors were present. “The meeting ended after it was discovered that Anil had fainted after being ragged for three hours — he had been forced to remain standing. He was rushed to the hospital on the premises, where he died,” says Dharmendra, Anil’s cousin.

Anil’s body was handed over to the family around 11.30 am on November 17, after a post-mortem examination. However, the police are yet to receive information on the cause of death. Anil’s family too confirmed that they had not received any information regarding the autopsy report till late on Monday.

Inspector Solanki confirmed that the cause of death was awaited. “An expert will provide the cause of death based on the findings of the panel that conducted the autopsy.”

While Dr Hardik Shah, the dean of GMERS Dharpur, was unavailable for a comment, Dr Manish Ramavat, the interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the society who was earlier the medical superintendent of the civil hospital attached to the college, says, “We already have protocol in place, as well as anti-ragging committees in all medical colleges (run by the society) and anti-ragging helplines for students…Additionally, we have asked all deans to be more vigilant, especially just after admissions, to prevent incidents of ragging.”

Though students are required to sign affidavits at the time of admission stating that they will not engage in ragging, incidents continue to be reported from medical colleges across Gujarat, and the rest of India. Just six months ago, the Gujarat High Court had heard a public interest litigation on ragging.

Meanwhile, Anil’s family has demanded punitive action against both the students responsible and the college administration. “No one else should lose their child like we did. We were aware that ragging happened in medical colleges, but with all the rules in place, we assumed it had stopped by now. So we never asked Anil about it or heard about it from him,” the father says.

Sandeep, 32, one of Anil’s cousins, says the incident has left people concerned for the safety of their children. He says, “Since the incident, people have been saying that it is better to make them (their children) do farming to ensure they stay alive.”

Stating that the family wants justice, Sandeep adds, “The senior students responsible for Anil’s death should be expelled. A simple suspension will not do. In fact, they should be banned from taking admission anywhere in the country or abroad.”

(With inputs from Brendan Dabhi)