RG Kar College Expels Interns, Doctors Amid Concerns Over `Threat Culture, Sexual Harassment`

In a big decision after an investigation into allegations of threat culture, money laundering, and ragging, R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal's capital city, Kolkata, on Saturday expelled ten people.

Those expelled include doctors, house staff, and interns for allegedly threatening others to fail examinations or get them ousted from the hostel, forcing other juniors to join a particular political party, sexual harassment and misconduct, forceful collection of money, lodging of false FIRs against students, and physical violence.

The list of expelled people includes Ashish Pandey, a house staff member close to former R G Kar principal Sandip Ghosh, who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with financial irregularities and paper leaks.

According to media reports, the decision came after the authorities of the state-run medical college held a special college council meeting on Saturday after a report from the Institutional Enquiry Committee found the staff and students guilty and decided to expel them until further notice.

Furthermore, names against whom “substantial evidence of sexual harassment against women” was found have been forwarded to the Internal Complaints Committee. So far, 10 people out of 59 have been expelled.

Names of 49 others are set to be forwarded to the internal complaints committee of the college and also to the anti-ragging committee for probe and disciplinary action.

Besides Pandey, others suspended included senior resident Sourav Paul, house staff Abhishek Sen and Ayushree Thapa, and interns Nayan Bagchi, Sarif Hasan, and Neelagni Debnath. The list also mentions the names of Amarendra Singh, Tanweer Ahmed Kazi, and Satpal Singh, as per a Times of India report.

As per the order, the medics and students were found to be guilty of threatening to fail others in university exams, threatening others with ouster from hostel, long hours of physical and mental torture, sexual harassment and misconduct, forcing others to join a particular political party and attend its rallies, forcing students, irrespective of sex, to attend boys’ common room to face “DIASING” (physical and mental torture), forcing juniors to buy drugs and alcohol at odd hours of night, forcing them to perform obscene acts at boys’ common room, forceful collection of money for college events without any audit, forceful exchange of intern/house staff duties for money, threatening to withhold internship completion, lodging of false FIRs against students, some as serious as sexual assault, physical violence on targeted students of Manicktala Hostel at midnight, and use of abusive language even in the name of parents, according to an Indian Express report.

The RG Kar college and hospital grabbed headlines following the rape and murder of a junior doctor at college premises. A section of junior doctors gave written complaints of “threat culture” on the campus.

Last month, the authorities of R G Kar Medical College sent notices to 51 doctors, house staff, and interns for allegedly engaging in behaviour that promotes a culture of intimidation. The doctors and interns called before an inquiry committee. Following a hearing and probe, a report was submitted to the college authorities.