NOIDA: Jyoti Jhangra’s project files will be central to the investigation into circumstances in which she died by suicide on July 18 at her hostel room in Sharda University. The second-year BDS student had just emerged from a difficult week when she was accused of forging a professor’s signature on her file, after which her father was called to the campus on July 14. The signature controversy left the 21-year-old deeply affected, according to her classmates, but just three days before she died by suicide, Jyoti seemed to be bouncing back. She sported a new haircut, attended all her classes, did her lab work, and was looking forward to a trip with friends after the semester exams.Barely 3-4 hours before she was found dead in her hostel room, Jyoti allegedly had a meltdown at a fellow hosteller’s room that was triggered by a visit to the staff room, one of her closest friends told TOI on Sunday. What caused it? Based on accounts from this friend, who is also a batchmate and part of a closely knit group of five girls, and coursemates, here’s what happened between July 10 and 18.JULY 10JYOTI had to submit a project for her dental material course. It was a denture sample. In the bachelor of dental science course, all students need to get sample submissions signed. Jyoti had gone to an assistant professor who teaches the course for her signature on her submission. The professor, after looking at the file, questioned a previous sign on it, accusing Jyoti of forging it. She also refused to sign the current submission. “Jyoti was in tears after this,” said the close friend and batchmate. “The professor scolded Jyoti and asked her not to show her face in class again. Jyoti said she had not forged any sign. I told her to let it go but she was in distress.”JULY 14Ramesh met the head of the department and other professors on the signature issue. What transpired during the discussion is not known since there has been no official word from the department or the university on this. But according to Ramesh’s account to police – which was corroborated by Jyoti’s close friend and classmates who TOI spoke to – the discussion was an amicable one and the outcome one that had reassured both Ramesh and Jyoti. “They were assured by the HOD that there will be no issues henceforth with her samples and obtaining signatures,” the friend quoted above told TOI. This echoes Ramesh’s version to police. However, according to the friend, all still wasn’t well. “Jyoti told me though the HOD spoke nicely to her father, the professors were still hostile to her. She was, however, coping and looked better after that day.It’s this episode that led to Jyoti’s father Ramesh being called to the campus. Ramesh has also mentioned this in his police complaint, saying he had brought up during the interaction harassment and misbehaviour by her teachers that his daughter had complained of and had been assured that she would face no such problems. It’s this that seems to have settled Jyoti’s nerves somewhat, according to the classmates.The professor she met is among the two faculty members arrested after her death. In her note, Jyoti specifically accused these two professors of mental harassment. Both faculty members are now in judicial custody.JULY 16That day, classes didn’t go smoothly for Jyoti. According to Ramesh’s police complaint, an assistant professor allegedly at the PCP (preclinical prosthodontics) class pulled Jyoti up and told her she would be punished for “complaining too much”. It’s not clear what these complaints were about and whether it had anything to do with Ramesh bringing up her teachers’ behaviour in his meeting with the HOD.JULY 18“I met Jyoti 15 minutes before the 11am class,” said her close friend. “I was going to collect my admit card from the admin office. Jyoti looked alright. She went to the class. We had a second class from 2pm to 4pm. The class got suspended, although we did not get any official intimation about it. So Jyoti went to the lab to complete her samples.”Exams were knocking on the door, so students wanted to waste no time on getting their coursework complete and submissions approved. Jyoti, who already had some catching up to do, decided to use the free time gainfully. Having completed her samples, she went to meet a senior faculty member – an associate professor who teaches the dental material course – for his signature. He was in the staff room and so were some of their other professors. It was here that July 10 allegedly played out again.“Jyoti was in anguish when she returned from the staff room. She told me the professor had told her, ‘tum toh apna sign khud hi kar leti ho’ (you sign your own projects) and made fun of her,” said the friend. “She was told to rework her dental sample. Having failed to get this professor’s signature, Jyoti went to another professor, this time to her PCP samples signed. But this professor also accused her of forging signs. She went back crying to the lab to redo her samples. Around 4pm, she said that she was going to her room,” said the friend, who was also in the lab. Nobody except a fellow hosteller at Mandela saw Jyoti after this. Jyoti’s mother has claimed Jyoti didn’t take her call at 5pm. “She went to her hostel friend’s room and was there from 5.30-7pm. Jyoti cried a lot there. She told the friend to take both theory and practical seriously before going back to her room,” said the close friend. Around 9pm, Jyoti was found dead in her room. Besides the two arrested professors, the dean of the school of dental studies, the HOD and two more faculty members have been named in the FIR based on the father’s complaint. Sharda University has formed a committee for a probe. QUESTIONS THAT REMAIN What is not clear, and on which the investigations by police and the university will throw light on, is why Jyoti’s project signs were being repeatedly questioned. Was she indeed being targeted or was there a previous instance of a dodgy sign that the faculty referred to? Her classmates said they were not aware of any such thing, but the university is yet to comment on this. TOI reached out about this to a faculty member, who said, “She was doing BDS, and to get a license, an audit takes place by a govt official. If her practicals were not up to the mark and the professors asked her to redo it, she should have taken things positively as it was for her betterment. If an audit finds practicals not up to the mark, even a college’s license can be suspended and the affiliation can go for a toss.” A classmate, however, said Jyoti’s scores weren’t bad. “She had scored 368 out of 600 in the first year. It is necessary to submit the project file before appearing in the written exam. Jyoti was under stress because she did not have a sign,” said the classmate.
