A final year law student at RGNUL, Patiala tragically passed away on May 21. Students allege delayed medical help and administrative negligence led to her death.
A very tragic incident has taken place at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Patiala. Udita, a final year law student of the university, passed away on the night of May 21.
This sad news has shocked the student community across the country, especially those studying law.
As per the latest reports, the exact reason behind Udita’s death will only be confirmed after the post-mortem report comes out.
However, many students from RGNUL have claimed that there was a serious delay by the university administration in giving timely medical help to Udita.
These claims have raised questions about the preparedness of the university to deal with medical emergencies.
According to the interim RGNUL Student Bar Council (RSBC), the student was found lying unconscious in the corridor of the girls’ hostel around 10:45 PM by her batchmates.
Her friends immediately started trying to get help from the residential faculty members and the RGNUL Health Centre, but sadly, no one responded to their calls on time.
One student who spoke to Media said,
“Several resident faculty members possess private vehicles, but did not take the initiative to transport the student independently.”
It is also being said that the university’s on-campus ambulance took around 30 minutes to reach the girls’ hostel.
Students claimed that the ambulance did not have working medical equipment. By the time Udita was taken to the hospital, it was too late. The doctors there declared her dead on arrival.
This heartbreaking incident has happened during the ongoing End Semester Examinations at RGNUL. Udita had only two more exams left before she could graduate and become a lawyer.
After this incident, the university suspended all academic activities on May 22 as a mark of respect for the deceased student.
This was informed through a condolence notice issued by the Registrar of RGNUL. A prayer meeting was also held on May 23.
The RSBC has also said that they had earlier raised many concerns about the poor condition and functioning of the RGNUL Health Centre.
They had even sent formal emails to the administration asking them to fix the problems. A member of the RSBC expressed frustration over the lack of action and said,
“It is not like this has not been pointed out to them (RGNUL Administration) multiple times, people have struggled when they’ve had medical emergencies but now we have lost a student who could probably have been saved.”
Another important point raised by the RSBC is that the Medical Officer of the university had already resigned much before this incident.
But despite this, the university had not appointed any qualified medical officer to replace them. So, on the night Udita needed help the most, there was no medical professional available on campus.
As of now, the RGNUL administration has not given any official response to the serious concerns and allegations raised by the students and the RSBC.
The entire incident has raised serious questions about how universities should ensure proper and quick medical help for students in emergencies.
Many believe that if help had reached on time, Udita’s life might have been saved.
This tragedy should serve as a wake-up call for educational institutions across the country to immediately improve their health and emergency response systems.
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