Dalit medical student attempts suicide for failing repeatedly

Lucknow: A first year medical student in Lucknow tried committing suicide this morning allegedly frustrated over failing in the Physiology subject for three years in a row. A student of the Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University, Uttar Pradesh's biggest and most prestigious collge, Neeraj Kumar took an overdose of sleeping pills. The incident is likely to intensify the stand-off between Dalit students and the management of the medical college, who have been at loggerheads with each other as quota students have accused the management of a caste bias and deliberately failing them.

Neeraj, a Dalit student, who ironically is a gold-medalist of his batch in anatomy discipline, has not been able to move to the second year because he has been repeatedly failing the Physiology subject since 2010. He has been admitted to the trauma centre at the medical college and his condition is said to be critical. His batchmates say he was depressed and was upset after not being able to pass the Physiology test.

The authorities did not, however, find a suicide note in Neeraj's hostel room, where he was found in an unconscious state this morning.

The stand-off between the quota students at the university and the administration is deep-rooted. A few months ago, D K Gupta, Vice-Chancellor of the university, had made a bizarre suggestion that he was willing to promote over 50 quota students who had not been able to pass their first year exams for the last five to 20 years.

The vice-chancellor had even written to the Medical Council of India asking for permission to pass quota students who had been failing to clear their first professional exams for several years. The Medical Council of India is yet to respond to that request.