Girl attempts suicide after alleged ragging in hostel

A 20yearold student of a citybased college attempted suicide by consuming poison at her Goregaon hostel on Tuesday night The girl alleges that constant ragging by her roommates had troubled her and unable to bear the torment she decided to end her life She was discharged from hospital yesterday and has subsequently filed a complaint with the antiragging cell No end in sight The police had retrieved a suicide note from Anita Pairsquos pocket in which she wrote she could not put up with the torture her roommates subjected her to and hence wanted to end her life Anita Pai name changed an orphan who was raised at a shelter managed by Sneha Sadan in Chembur is a student of Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work Churchgate and is in her final year at the college She alleges that after being ragged for a month by three of her roommates she decided to take the drastic step After Pai consumed poison she called up one of her friends who immediately alerted the police Goregaon police arrived at the hostel and first took a semiconscious Pai to Bhagwati hospital after which she was transferred to Sion hospital The police had retrieved a suicide note from the girlrsquos pocket in which she wrote that she could not put up with the torture her roommates subjected her to and hence wanted to end her life ldquoI had to miss a test in college that morning as my roommates hid my cupboard key and I couldnrsquot get ready for collegerdquo said Pai ldquoThat very same night they verbally abused me and after putting up with similar harassment for a month I was fed up and decided to end my liferdquo she added ldquoMy roommates knew I had consumed poison but none of them came forward to help merdquo said Pai She further alleged that even after complaining to her college administration no action was taken against her roommates College authorities however contrary to the girls claim state that she harassed her roommates as she is mentally unstable and have sent her back to Sneha Sadan following the incident ldquoWe have sent her back to the institute because of her misconduct in the past two to three days Sneha Sadan had asked us to keep her in the hostel ever since she joined our college but now we have decided not to let her stay hererdquo said Lidvin Dias faculty member of the college Geeta Balakrishnan principal of the college denied that Pai has been expelled from hostel or was even ragged She said ldquoThe girl is epileptic and she is undergoing medical treatment But because she is on a diet she used to skip her medicine intake Our college counsellors including me have counselled her several times as she is psychologically depressed There has never been any ragging incident in our college or hostel Any student or any of her roommates never ragged her She attempted suicide because of her psychological problem The three students are just a month old in the hostel and are postgraduate studentsrdquo Suresh Shinde senior inspector with Vanrai Police station said ldquoPreliminary investigations are ongoing and the girl is a little mentally disturbed according to her college officials and her hostel staff They also say that she was troubling other students Her roommates never ragged her as she is senior to them They have been at that hostel for only a month How can they rag herrdquo mdash Inputs by Kranti Vibhute