The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has held AIIMS guilty of caste discrimination after it took action against an assistant professor of its College of Nursing in connection with a case of alleged harassment leading to suicide by a student.
Shashi Mawar, along with the Principal of the College of Nursing and an unknown nurse, is alleged to have caused mental harassment to a 21-year-old nursing student, leading to her suicide in her hostel room at AIIMS in December last year. Mawar was, at the time, also serving as the deputy superintendent of the nursing hostel where the student hung herself from the ceiling fan. An FIR was registered by the victim’s family at Hauz Khaz police station in connection with the case.
“On the basis of the discussions, the commission observed that in the suicide case, police is investigating three employees, namely Dr Manju Vatsa, the principal, Mawar, and an unknown nurse, but the action has been taken against only the SC petitioner.