Dr Preethi\'s death: Suspension on Saif lifted temporarily

Warangal: Following a High Court order, the management of Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) has temporarily lifted the one-year suspension imposed on PG second-year student M.A. Saif.

He had been suspended for his alleged complicity in the suicide of first-year student Dr Dharavat Preethi. The college permitted him to attend classes in Hanamkonda from Wednesday.

Notably, the 27-year-old Saif was booked under Section 4(V) of the Prohibition of Ragging Act and the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and remanded following a complaint by her parents and the college management on charges of ragging Dr Preethi. She later died while undergoing treatment at Nims in Hyderabad on February 26.

She had attempted suicide while she was discharging her duty at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital on February 22.

Taking a serious note of Preethi’s death case, the anti-ragging committee conducted an inquiry and it recommended that the authorities of the KMC suspend Saif for a year – and that he should not be attending both theory and practical classes and should not enter the library and hostel of the college from March 4.

Saif came out of jail on bail on April 20. He approached the High Court, challenging his suspension. The court asked the KMC to conduct a hearing afresh with the anti-ragging committee and provide him a reasonable opportunity.

Accordingly, the college authorities asked Saif to appear before the committee to give his version. Saif failed to do this. Then, the college submitted the report to the court and retained its suspension order.

However, claiming that he could not appear before the anti-ragging committee due to personal reasons, Saif moved High Court, challenging the fresh notices issued by the college. He urged the court to direct the college to implement its previous order to lift the suspension on him.

The court thereafter ordered the college to lift its suspension order temporarily and allow Saif to attend classes. It also told the college to conduct an anti-ragging committee meeting again after a week, stating that the decision of the committee would be treated as final.

College principal Mohan Das said that as per the court ruling, the suspension order issued against Saif was temporarily lifted and he was given the permission to attend classes.