india

Updated: Mar 04, 2018 21:14 IST

PATNA The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna (AIIMS-Patna), has rusticated a final year MBBS student who reportedly entered a girls’ hostel allegedly in a drunken state and in a semi naked condition after a pre-Holi bash on February 27.

The student, who belongs to Kerala, left the hostel on March 1 within 24 hours of the rustication order. His parents were immediately informed and a junior student was asked to escort him home.

“We have rusticated the student for three years to pacify the girl students. However, we will talk to the students again and review his sentencing because the career of a medico is at stake,” AIIMS-Patna director Dr PK Singh said on Sunday.

Following the unsavoury incident, Dr Sadhana Sharma, who is the chief warden of girls’ hostel, has issued an order asking all interns (63 boys of 2013 batch) to vacate hostel 1 and shift to hostel 4.

People familiar with the incident said the students were enjoying a pre-Holi bash in the open playground, adjacent the 11 hostels on the evening of February 27 when this final year student, a resident of hostel number 9, ran into the nursing hostel (number 6) for girls. As he ran into the girls’ hostel, the medico’s lungi came off, causing much embarrassment to the girls residing there. The student had entered the ground floor of the eight-storey nursing hostel when security personnel apprehended him and turned him out.

The AIIMS administration allegedly tried to hush up the matter, but a vociferous protest by the female students who threatened to lodge a police complaint forced the administration to issue the rustication order on February 28.

No police complaint has been lodged in this connection.

Bihar was declared a dry state on April 5, 2016. Anyone caught in a drunken state can be imprisoned up to 10 years.

The AIIMS director, however, said that the student concerned was intoxicated with bhang (an intoxicant) and not alcohol. The bhang was reportedly mixed with thandai (a kind of drink taken during Holi).

The 2014 batch medico was to appear in his final examinations in December 2018. Even as the college administration spoke of reviewing its sentence, an AIIMS official familiar with the punitive steps said that the medico would have to serve a minimum rustication sentence of six months to one year.

“We have beefed up the security at the girls’ hostel. A security picket with rolling gate will be set up in front of the girls’ hostel. We will also construct a boundary wall around the girls’ hostels and barricading will also be done of the campus,” said Dr Singh.

The administration’s decision to build a boundary wall hasn’t gone down well with the students.

“We had been demanding a common boundary, surrounding the entire hostel campus for the last two years. Now, the college administration wants to build a boundary wall only around the girls’ hostel and segregate the boys and girls,” said a medico requesting anonymity.

“Instances of eve teasing have been reported of late and the culprits were outsiders. It was the boys who caught the culprits and handed them over to the police. The college administration has asked the interns to vacate the hostel and is not willing to take any responsibility. No one is questioning the hostel guards, who were lax. The college administration is just trying to save its skin and pin the entire blame on the students. If students are held accountable, so should the college administration for their lax approach to on-campus security,” he added.

The AIIMS in Patna has 11 hostels of which four (hostel number 2, 3, 5 and 6) are for girls and three for boys. Two hostels (4 & 7) are vacant and hostel 10 and 11 are for junior and senior residents.

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BLURB

The student, who belongs to Kerala, left the hostel on March 1 within 24 hours of the rustication order. His parents were immediately informed and a junior student was asked to escort him home