Acting as a blot on the state’s education system, an incident of ragging has come to light where two postgraduate (PG) students of Ahmedabad’s BJ Medical College (BJMC) have filed a complaint with the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) anti-ragging committee, alleging that they were beaten up and abused by their college seniors.

As per the complaint by a PG Medical student in the orthopaedic department, studying in the academic year 2022, he and another fellow student were severely harassed by their seniors.

The complaint states that two senior MS Ortho doctors beat the students in front of the patients and abused them. They also threaten them by saying, “You will die here. Get out of here.”

The complaint adds that the seniors don’t even allow them to sit in the OPD (outpatient department—a consultation department). In addition, they extort ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 for snacks in the OPD on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 for breakfast and dinner on emergency days.

The PG student has written to the NMC requesting help in taking a ‘seat leave,’ as there is a ₹25 lakh bond for leaving the seat ahead of their academic tenure.

The complaint from the student reads, “I am being forced to take ‘seat leave’ and I have not attended college for a year because of mental and physical torture.”

The two students, including the complainant, have currently ceased attending college. As they belong to Madhya Pradesh, the Junior Doctors Association of Indore has written to Gujarat’s Chief Minister, Health Minister, and college dean, requesting prompt action over this issue.