Four senior medical students of Narendra Modi Medical College’s department of surgery in Maninagar, Ahmedabad, were suspended in a ragging case of the junior students.

The suspended seniors include Dr Vraj Vaghani, who was suspended for two years, Dr Shivani Patel for two years, and Dr Karankumar Parejiya and Dr Aneri Nayak were suspended for 25 days.

Ragging involved inappropriate behaviour of seniors towards their juniors. A senior student allegedly ordered a junior to not take a shower for seven days, while another asked a junior to write a prescription over 700 times as a punishment.

According to a complaint from junior medicos in the college council, female senior female students along with male counterparts were involved in indecent behaviour towards them.

Juniors reached out to their parents regarding the ragging issue and further approached Dr Ashit Patel, head of the general surgery department at the institute on May 16.

However, the complaint did not yield any action by Dr Patel. On May 19,  parents again mailed Dr Patel regarding the issue.

With the HOD turning a blind eye to the issue, parents knocked on the doors of LG Hospital in Khokhra, the institute operating the college. 

LG Hospital Superintendent Dr Leena Dabhi and Dean Dipti Shah took cognizance of the situation after receiving the complaints.

“A college council meeting was held with the heads of the department. Considering the proof, WhatsApp chats and audio files provided by the complainants, suspension of four seniors has been decided,” said the Dean.

Regarding the incident, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, Ramesh Merja said that he was only aware of four senior students being suspended. On being questioned if any sexual harassment was involved, he asked to contact the dean of the college.