The Lucknow police has slapped the Atrocities against Dalit Act against two professors of the Chattrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University in Lucknow for allegedly driving a final year MBBS student to commit suicide.
Sushil Kumar Chaudhary, 26, ended his life by consuming poison in his rented accommodation in LDA colony, where his body was discovered on Sunday.
In the suicide note left by him for his father, the boy had said that after failing four times, he had lost all hopes of clearing the MBBS examination.
Taking a cue from the suicide note, Sushil's father Dhruv Nath Singh registered a FIR against some faculty members of the medical university including Professor K K Pant, Professor Siddharth Das and university registrar V P Singh.
Alleging gross discrimination by these teachers, Singh claimed that Sushil was often reminded of his scheduled caste background and told that he should give up his dream of becoming a doctor. 'Tum dhobi ke bete ho, doctor banne ke khwab chor do' (you are a washerman's son, just forget about becoming a doctor) he was often told by his professors, alleged Singh.
Tension gripped the medical college as students demonstrated on campus, seeking action against the 'guilty' teachers, while the bulk of faculty members termed the charges against the professors as 'fabricated'.
"The accusations made against the teachers are absolutely baseless. So many Dalit students are enrolled in the college every year. No professor has the mentality to run down anyone on account of his or her caste," said a very senior professor.
According to him, "Sushil was a poor student, his father was aware of his poor academic record. It is grossly unfair on his part to blame the teachers."
Another teacher, preferring anonymity, pointed out, "Internal teachers can only evaluate the practical examination. The theory examinations are examined by external professors and the copies are bar-coded , so there is no way that any internal faculty member can influence the marks awarded to a student."
He added, "While those entitled to reservations do get admission even with very low marks in the entrance examination, there is no way that they can pass an examination with low grades. They have to work hard to attain the minimum academic level."
