WB: Nursing student hangs self, students cry foul

Kolkata: A nursing student of a private hospital died under mysterious circumstances off E.M. Bypass late on Thursday night, leading to protests by her classmates and family members and alleged assault of police personnel who had tried to stop them.

Twenty one-year-old Rinki Ghosh was a third-year nursing student at Peerless Hospital which also runs the college.

Rinki was originally from Ghatal in West Midnapore. Her fellow students held the hospital authorities responsible for her death. They alleged that the guardians of those who fared poor in the examination were called and the students were humiliated in front of their parents. One of those was Rinki. After facing the humiliation, Rinki went to her hostel and hanged herself.

At around 10 pm, she was found hanging from the ceiling of a toilet in the hostel’s hostel late Thursday night following which there was huge protests by classmates and her family members who held the hospital authorities responsible for her death and demanded action against it.

Rinki was declared brought dead at the hospital. The body was sent for post-mortem. Agitated over her death, her classmates demonstrated on the hospital premises claiming that she was murdered. They also claimed that they physically abused by a group of 40 male security guards during their protest.

When the mediapersons went to cover the incident, they were beaten up by the security guards of the hospital. Two campersons were also injured in the incident.

The protests continued throughout the night following which there a scuffle between the police personnel and the protesters, the police said, adding that few police personnel were allegedly assaulted when they tried to stop the protesting students from entering the hospital premises.

Deputy commissioner of police (East) Rupesh Kumar rushed to the hospital with a large contingent of force. The students’ protest continued on Friday with placards being found on the hospital’s entrance and premises.

So far nobody has been arrested in connection with the incident, the police officer said. Probe is on into the incident, the police added.