Members of National Students’ Union Of India protest on PMCH premises over the alleged suicide by a medical student, in Patna on Saturday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Jan. 29: A protest march against the administration of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) over the suicide of first-year MBBS student Sunny Kumar Raushan turned ugly today when the boarders of the medical college clashed with the protesters.

The incident took place around 12 noon. The protesters were raising slogans against the authorities in the room of the college principal N.P. Yadav.

Though an FIR in this connection has not been lodged by any of the parties, students of the college alleged that activists of National Students’ Union Of India (NSUI) got into the principal’s office by force and tried to attack him. The students only acted in defence.

A strong group of around 50 NSUI members had come down to the PMCH campus with placards and raised slogans against the alleged apathetic attitude of the authorities over the death of Sunny, who allegedly died due to ragging.

Sudhir Sharma, NSUI president from Patna University, claimed their protest was a peaceful one and that Yadav suddenly made a call from his mobile phone and some “outsiders” rushed in and attacked them.

“Yes, there were some heated arguments and a bit of a scuffle too. Our protest was peaceful and we went to the principal’s chamber to have a word with him about the investigations being carried out by the college administration. But the principal was in no mood to talk to us. He then made a call and a large group of men suddenly came inside. They did not look like students as all of them had sticks and rods in their hands. They started to argue with us inside the room and then we were forced to step out. Outside the office, they surrounded us and then there was a scuffle. However, there has not been any serious injury,” Sharma said.

Though the principal could not be reached for a comment despite several attempts, the students said that they reacted after they were informed that the NSUI activists were misbehaving with Yadav and attacking him.

“They forcibly entered the principal’s room and argued with him. There were many of them and they had crowded his room. They were reacting aggressively and we came to know about it. We rushed to the office in order to defend the principal. We were not carrying any kind of weapon. There has not been any case of ragging here. The suicide of Sunny was not a result of ragging. We asked the NSUI members to come out of the room and then told them to leave the campus immediately,” the students said.

Meanwhile, the college has formed an eight-member committee to inquire whether ragging was the reason behind Sunny’s suicide.

The police are still maintaining that peer pressure led Sunny to take the extreme step.

“The investigations into this case are being conducted. But prima facie, it looks to be peer pressure. The student’s marks were poor and it may be that he was not able to cope with the pressure. The police are investigating the case from all angles,” an officer said.

Sunny committed suicide on February 25 in his room at Mahendra Yadav lodge, a day after his semester examinations were over.