Navi Mumbai nursing college student dies by suicide; FIR against principal

A 19-year-old student of a nursing college in Navi Mumbai allegedly committed suicide after its woman principal passed casteist slurs and humiliated him, police said on Wednesday.

A First Information Report (FIR) on charges of suicide abetment was registered against the principal on Tuesday in connection with the incident which took place on June 3, following a complaint by the victim's mother, they said.

The student, belonging to a Scheduled Caste and resident of Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, was in the first year of the BSc Nursing course at the private college located at Poyange village in Panvel area of Navi Mumbai.

He allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a window grill using a waistband in his hostel room on June 3, an official from Panvel Taluka police station said.

The principal allegedly used casteist slurs against the student, humiliated him in front of others, and made degrading remarks about his masculinity over the last few months, as per the FIR.

Unable to bear the mental harassment and humiliation, the student took the extreme step, it said.

Based on the complaint filed by the deceased's mother on Tuesday, the FIR was registered against the principal under sections 108 (abetment of suicide) and 352(1) (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the official said.

No arrest has been made so far, the police said.

"We are probing the matter. Statements of witnesses and college staff are being recorded, and all necessary evidence is being collected," the official said.