‘Harassed by Principal’s Coterie, Tried Taking My Life’: RG Kar Students Reveal Pressure at Hospital

The father of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital who was raped and murdered had told the media last week that she was under pressure at the medical institute and did not want to go there. The statement set off intense speculations about the kind of pressure the victim was under.

Now, junior doctors and medical students have shared with CNN-News18 that the ordeal was common to anyone who did not support the principal and his coterie of junior doctors.

“My scores till second year were fine. I was doing well. Then I participated in a protest demanding a common room in the hostel. Post this, I was failed in the third-year exam, suspended from hostel and socially ostracised to the extent that I tried to kill myself,” a medical intern at RG Kar told CNN-News18.

Showing off his psychiatry ward admission papers, his treatment card during his attempted suicide and the scar on his wrist, the intern said he was scared to reveal his name and face even now. “Sandip Ghosh may have been removed as principal but his supporters are watching. They can get my clearance stopped and destroy my career if they get to know that I have spoken. But how long can we live in this terror?” he asked.

A fellow student who has given his fifth-year exam added: “What happened to didi (victim) could have happened to any of us. Only those who supported Sandip Ghosh’s continuance as principal of RG Kar were given gold medals or roles of house staff. Anyone who remotely spoke up would get unreasonable duty hours and would be subjected to all kinds of harassment,” he said.

The medical students claimed that Ghosh’s coterie had tried to discourage students from starting a protest after the rape and murder on August 9. “These seniors came and obliquely told the juniors of 1st and 2nd year that there was no need to join the protest,” a chest medicine student said.

When asked why, according to them, was it important for Ghosh to continue as principal, an orthopaedic intern said: “Obviously he was trying to hide something. We are students so would not know if it was a drug racket or sex racket or anything else. CBI should tell us that. But the way his coterie didn’t allow a new principal to take charge in 2021 and then targeted anyone who protested, shows that there was something to hide.”

The allegations come even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned Ghosh for the fourth day running. Ghosh has moved the Kolkata High Court, seeking anticipatory bail. His relentless questioning since Friday for 12-14 hours has led to speculations of arrest.

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