“It is a murder and not suicide,” said Dharavath Narender, father of Dr Preethi Dharavath who died by suicide due to alleged harassment by her senior at Kakatiya Medical College (KMC), Warangal. Narender was returning after performing the final rites of his daughter at Girni Thanda in Jangaon district of Telangana. He demanded that the police find out what transpired on the intervening night of February 21 and 22 when she was on duty at the MGM Hospital in Warangal. Preethi, a first year postgraduate student in the Department of Anaesthesia at KMC, passed away at a Hyderabad hospital on Sunday night, five days after she attempted suicide, allegedly following harassment by her senior Dr MA Saif. Narender believes that his daughter was murdered and appealed to the police to investigate the possibility of murder.
Narender, an assistant sub-inspector in the Railway Protection Force, said that his daughter would never end her life. He also demanded that a probe by a sitting judge be conducted only after suspending the head of the Anesthesia Department (HOD) at KMC. However, the police say that as soon as the college management was informed about the harassment meted out to Preethi, they called both Saif and Preethi and spoke to them. The principal of the college too spoke to Saif and let him off with a warning. “The management acted upon the complaint and cannot be blamed for inaction at this point. In the course of investigation, if we find out that they were aware about the harassment and still did not act upon it, we will take appropriate action against them,” said the Warangal Commissioner.
In voice recordings that have now gone viral, Preethi can be heard telling her mother that the HOD asked her why she had taken the matter to the principal. Preethi’s worried mother also offered to speak to Saif to find out why he was harassing her. Preethi can also be heard saying she wasn’t the only one being harassed by Saif, “He is harassing everyone. No one is speaking up against him.”
Preethi’s sister Puja, overcome with grief, demanded that the guilty be hanged. “He should be hanged to ensure that no other girl has to face this," she said, speaking to the media after the funeral. Leaders of some political parties, student groups, and tribal organisations attended the funeral. Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) leader Manda Krishna Madiga was among those present.
Puja said that the family never thought the matter would take such a serious turn, as senior students troubling juniors is common in colleges. Her sister, she said, had it in her nature to question the wrong and she was not like others who compromise after seniors trouble them. "I told her if you can't bear this, just slap him and come home. Don't get stressed. Nothing will happen. We will take care," said Puja, a software engineer.
Preethi was the youngest of three sisters. After completing MBBS from Kamineni Medical College in Nalgonda, Preethi had secured a postgraduate seat at KMC and her classes had started in November 2022. Puja said they were proud of what Preethi had achieved as no one in their extended family had become a doctor. She said their parents sold all their property to give them a good education.
Warangal police, on February 24, arrested Preethi's senior Saif, a second year student in the Department of Anaesthesia. Police said that targeted harassment of Preethi by her senior could have driven her to attempt suicide. Saif has been booked for abetment to suicide. He was also booked under the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Prohibition of Ragging Act. The Warangal Commissioner said that insulting behaviour also comes under ragging. According to police, Saif had made insulting comments about Preethi in a WhatsApp group.
While many say that Preethi brought up the issue multiple times on different platforms, which should have been enough reason to take action, the police maintain that no written complaint was submitted by Preethi, neither to the police, nor to the college management. Preethi had informed her parents about the harassment and also spoken to her friends about the same. It was her father who had spoken to the police, who in turn had asked the management to look into the incident and take necessary action.
While the management called Saif and let him off with a warning, the question being raised is, would stronger action by the management have deterred Preethi from dying by suicide? Did Preethi feel not enough was done to ensure her harasser was pulled up? Several questions remain, but the biggest of them all is, who will take responsibility for the death of the young, promising medico’s life?