Police Commissioner AV Ranganath said that targeted insults can be considered ragging.
Telangana police, on Friday, February 24, said that the suicide attempt by a medical student on Thursday was likely due to the harassment of her senior. At a press meet held in Warangal, Police Commissioner AV Ranganath told reporters that the targeted harassment by SA Saif could be what led to the suicide attempt of his junior Dharavath Preethi. A first year postgraduate (MD) student in the department of Anaesthesia at the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) in Warangal, Preethi is currently battling for her life at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad. Hours after arresting Saif, Warangal police confirmed that he has been booked for the girl's attempted suicide. Provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Anti-Ragging Act have been invoked against Saif. The police have ruled out any sexual harassment. The Commissioner said that targeted insults can be considered ragging. "It is clear that there was targeted harassment of this girl by Saif. He was insulting her in a WhatsApp group," he said. Data from a WhatsApp group of Anaesthesia students was retrieved by the police. Based on that, the Commissioner said, it was found that after Saif made a remark in the group about a case sheet prepared by Preethi on February 18, she had sent him a personal message raising an objection to the remark. Stating that the medical college has a boss-subordinate culture, where junior students have to address seniors as ‘sir’, the Commissioner added that Saif probably did not like the fact that Preethi questioned him. The matter is under further investigation by the police. On February 20, Preethi informed her father Narendra about the harassment. He took up the issue with the police and subsequently, on February 21, the department head spoke to both Saif and Preethi separately. Saif denied harassing the girl and said that he was only trying to teach her. Preethi was on duty at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital that night. The next morning, she was found unconscious by the hospital staff and was admitted in the same hospital. After her condition deteriorated, she was shifted to NIMS in Hyderabad. Doctors and heads of departments told the police that Preethi could have collapsed due to a cardiac arrest and said that she had been facing health issues like thyroid. However, the police suspect that it was a case of attempted suicide. According to the Commissioner, "We have not reached to any conclusion but going by the chats and what had happened afterwards, we are of the opinion that it could have been an attempt to suicide." He further added, "We are awaiting the toxicology report," which is expected to be released in two days.
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