HC grants relief to suspended North Bengal Med College students

Siliguri: Five students of North Bengal Medical College, suspended for six months on allegations of fostering a “threat culture,” have been granted partial relief by the Calcutta High Court. Justice Jay Sengupta, in a hearing on Tuesday, allowed the students to attend classes and appear for examinations but barred them from entering the college premises for any other purpose. The next hearing of the case is scheduled after five weeks from now. The five students are Joy Lakra, Tirthankar Roy, Aritra Roy, Aishee Chakraborty and Sreeja Karmakar.

Junior doctors and some professors of North Bengal Medical College had launched a protest in September alleging an existing threat culture at the hospital. They had pointed fingers against these 5 students along with the then Dean Sandeep Sengupta and some other doctors, alleging their involvement in promoting threat-culture in the Medical college. The protest was sparked by the rape and murder of a young female doctor at the RG Kar hospital.

Sandeep Sengupta was forced to resign from the post of dean due to the protests. Later, the college council, which was formed to inquire into the allegations of threat culture, found these 5 students guilty and initially expelled them.

However, with the intervention of the college principal, the decision was revised, reducing the punishment to a six-month suspension. The suspension also prohibited the students from accessing the college hostel. The suspension order came into effect from September 12.

Challenging the suspension, the 5 students had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court, arguing that the disciplinary action violated procedural norms. They claimed the college authorities did not adhere to established rules before imposing the punishment.