Punjab: College principal, deputy principal booked over suicide of nursing student

Hoshiarpur: Police have filed a charge sheet in a suicide case against an administrator and vice-principal of Gursewa Nursing College in Garhshankar, where a 19-year-old student had died of poison on Wednesday.

The deceased’s parents and student union leaders had alleged that the first-year student ended his life due to the intimidation of the college administration. The teenager was from Nuh in Haryana.

Late on Thursday evening, an FIR under Section 108 of the BNS was registered against college principal Davinder Kaur Rai and vice-principal Kamaldeep Kaur.

Students from various districts of the state joined a protest organized by local students on the Chandigarh-Hoshiarpur highway against the college administration and demanded action against the accused.

Baljit Dharamkot, a student leader, has alleged that the management had announced a holiday for the day students and locked up the hostel residents to prevent them from joining the protest.

Ashiq Khan’s father Habib Khan revealed that he had come to the college on October 7 to talk to the management about his son’s expulsion and after giving a written assurance, the management withdrew the order. He claimed that his son again complained of harassment the next day and was informed about his suicide the next day.

Union leaders said the nursing student was expelled from the university for failing to pay a deposit, but was reinstated after his parents met the principal on October 8 and provided a written guarantee.

When school principal Sangeeta James was contacted, she said that as she was on leave, she could not say much. “The student was dismissed for misconduct but was reinstated after his parents apologised,” she said.