Anurag Sharma, who lost his life an unfortunate accident while playing squash.

Anurag Sharma, a second-year Computer Science student at IIT Roorkee, passed away due an injury while playing squash in the campus. Parents of the 20-year-old deceased claim that the institute’s negligence towards the intensity of his injury caused his death. They have now filed a case against the institute with the District Collector of Dhaulpur, Rajasthan. PaGaLGuY has a copy of this complaint letter.

“Had IIT Roorkee taken his injury seriously and provided better treatment inside the campus itself, my son would have still been alive. He was given only pain killers and sent to Meerut.” said Anand Sharma, Anurag’s father. After Anurag was injured while playing squash, he was taken to the Medical Unit (MU) inside IITR campus. The medical officer on duty suggested that he be taken to the Himalayan Institute Hospital in Dehradun, around 50 kilometres away. But instead of going to the hospital, Anurag insisted that he should be referred to a doctor in Meerut, which is around 150 kilometres from Roorkee.

The MU complied with Anurag’s demand, but failed to send along any medical personnel with him, while travelling to Meerut. Anurag was accompanied by two of his batch-mates and the ambulance driver. None of these developments were conveyed by the MU, or Anurag, or his friends, either to the Dean of Students Welfare (DoSW) or anyone from IITR administration. “How can the institute wash off responsibility by saying they didn’t know about the injury? Why wasn’t he accompanied by a medical professional?” asked Mr Sharma. As a matter of fact, Anurag and his friends went to an eye-specialist in Meerut directly. All these details were revealed by the MU after Anurag’s death in Meerut, which took the DoSW and Anurag’s parents by surprise.

Anurag’s parents informed IIT Roorkee about the complaint they have filed against the institute. They, however, claim that the institute is still unmoved by Anurag’s death. When PaGaLGuY spoke to an official in IIT Roorkee, here’s what he had to say, “The parents visited the campus to collect Anurag’s belongings, when they informed us about the complaint filed with the collector. We have not received any instruction or inquiry report from the govt. as of yet. We will decide the course of action once we get any notice regarding the same. However, the students took certain decisions without keeping the DoSW informed. Had they approached the DoSW, the course of action would probably have been different. Nonetheless, we are taking corrective measures now to improve the hospital facilities to ensure such mistakes aren’t repeated ,” said a professor.

While the parents hold IITR responsible for all that happened, the institute blames the lack of communication from the MU and his two batch-mates who accompanied Anurag. “The institute cannot blame 20 year olds for its own irresponsibility. Even Anurag didn’t have so much maturity, how will we expect that from his friends?” said his father. Anurag’s death is now muddled in a blame game between the institute and his parents.