A second-year dental student at Sharda University in Greater Noida died by suicide late on Friday, leaving behind a note alleging sustained mental harassment by two faculty members.
The 20-year-old BDS student was found dead within the university campus under the jurisdiction of Knowledge Park Police Station.
Police recovered a suicide note from the scene, in which the student alleged sustained harassment and humiliation by her teachers, identifying staff from the PCP and Dental Materials departments as responsible for her distress.
In the note, she accused them of mental harassment, stating that their actions had left her under prolonged stress. She demanded that they be held accountable should she end her life.
“If I died, the teachers of PCP and Dental Material are to blame. I want them to go behind bars. They mentally harassed me. They humiliated me. I have been in stress because of them for a long time. I want them to face the same thing,” the student allegedly wrote, naming two instructors from the dental faculty.
The incident has triggered student protests on campus, with scores of undergraduates demanding immediate action against the named faculty and accountability from university officials. Tensions escalated after a heated exchange broke out between the police and the protesting students outside the girls' hostel block.
Acting on a complaint filed by the student's family, police detained two members of the university staff.
“Two staff members from the management of the university have been arrested on the basis of the complaint lodged by the family members of the student,” said Sudhir Kumar, Additional DCP, Greater Noida.
The case has drawn parallels with the recent suicide of a student in Odisha’s Balasore, who succumbed to burn injuries after self-immolating over alleged inaction against a professor she accused of sexual and psychological abuse. In that case, too, institutional silence and delayed disciplinary action had become focal points of national outrage.
Also read: Odisha paralysed as bandh over student’s suicide grips state
Rights groups and education reform advocates have called both deaths a wake-up call for universities and regulatory bodies to adopt robust mental health safeguards and student protection mechanisms.
While the university has not yet issued a public statement, senior police officials said they are reviewing faculty records and hostel CCTV footage. The post-mortem report is awaited.
Authorities fear the Sharda case may echo the Balasore incident, which sparked protests by students and demands for stricter mechanisms to address complaints of abuse, humiliation, and mental distress within academic institutions.
Authorities said any criminal charges would be determined following the outcome of the forensic report and official inquiry.
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