Tirupati college professor suspended after student's suicide

Authorities in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday suspended a professor of SV Medical College in Tirupati after a PG medical student, who had accused him and two other professors of sexual harassment, committed suicide.

The medical education department suspended Ravi Kumar, head of pediatric department at SV Medical College. Director of Medical Education K. Babji, who issued the orders, will visit Tirupati to personally probe the circumstances which led to the suicide.

The suspension orders were issued hours after 30-year-old victim was found hanging at her flat in Pileru town on Tuesday.

In April, she had complained to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in writing that she was being sexually harassed by three professors from the paediatric department, following which the college management formed a committee in May to conduct an inquiry.

Ravi Kumar and two other professors had termed the allegations baseless.

The student, meanwhile, was upset after she failed in the post-graduate exams. She had told her friends that she was deliberately failed as she had complained against the professors.

The suicide triggered protests by students at the SV College where a sit-in was staged, demanding action against the professors.

The victim's relatives alleged that the inquiry committee had not submitted its report and the three professors had gone to the media describing her as mentally unsound.

They said the attitude of the professors had caused her mental agony and drove her to suicide.

--IANS

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