By IANS,
Shimla : A three-member panel formed by the Supreme Court to probe the death of a first-year MBBS student by ragging last month has accused the Himachal Pradesh medical college where the incident occurred of “not implementing seriously” the apex court guidelines to stop ragging.
The committee has completed its probe into 19-year-old Aman Kachru’s death, officials said Saturday.
Kachru died March 8 after being ragged, allegedly by four final-year students of the Rajendra Prasad Medical College at Tanda town, 20 km from the district headquarters town of Kangra.
“We (the team) came to the conclusion that the college has not been implementing (the Supreme Court) guidelines (on anti-ragging) since its inception. Staff shortage and frequent transfers of college principals are also responsible for unsatisfactory working of the college,” committee member A.K. Aggarwal told reporters.
“We have collected some valuable inputs,” he said.
The apex court had directed the committee to probe the ragging incident and submit its report in the court before the next day of hearing on the ragging case April 20.
“The sub-committee members interacted with more than 300 people, including doctors who treated Kachru and who conducted the post mortem, victim’s classmates, students and interns during their visit,” principal Anil Chauhan told IANS.
The team – comprising dean of Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi A.K. Aggarwal, principal Ramjas College in Delhi Rajindra Prasad and Tanveer Aiejad – reached the Tanda college April 9.
According to Chauhan, the panel has studied in detail additional district magistrate Sandeep Kumar’s report regarding the ragging incident and the Medical Council of India’s (MCI) probe into the incident. A three-member MCI team last month visited the college and submitted its report to the apex court.
The magisterial inquiry had concluded that Kachru succumbed to his injuries caused during the course of ragging. It also pointed out about 10 instances or complaints of ragging and acts of indiscipline reported in the college since 2001 but none of the complaints drew any disciplinary action.
“The panel has studied each and every finding of the magisterial probe in detail. Ragging cases occurred before this one (Kachru’s death) were investigated,” the college principal said.