Mumbai court grants anticipatory bail to professor in postgraduate dental student suicide case

A special court under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has granted anticipatory bail to a 60-year-old medical professor in a case pertaining to the suicide of a 24-year-old Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) student. The court said there was no evidence suggesting he had tortured the victim based on her caste or compelled her to take her own life. The postgraduate student, Stuti Sonawane, was found hanging at her home in Mumbai's Antop Hill area on March 9 this year. Her boyfriend Fazal Mohammad Khan (31), an insurance agent, was arrested from Lower Parel in central Mumbai. While the initial investigation focused on Khan, the police later sought to implicate Dr Kulvindersingh Banga, who was her teacher, based on WhatsApp messages. Banga's lawyers Suddep Pasbola and Amit Ghag submitted that there is no material in the report that the victim was abused based on her caste. Judge G G Bhansali, in an order passed on Thursday, noted that on perusal of the report, there are various allegations levelled against Khan, but in the suicide note running into five to six pages, nothing is mentioned about Dr Banga. The order highlighted several factors indicating a positive relationship between the professor and his student. The court acknowledged that in a letter written in her final moments, Dr. Stuti asked for ''sorry'' from her parents, her sister, and Dr Banga, placing him on an equal status with her family. Further, the court noted that the birthday letter from the victim to Dr Banga described him as ''more than a guide'' and a ''God'' who ''transformed'' her life and the fact that he had previously deposited Rs 2 lakh for the victim's fees, a fact known to her parents. The victim's father, Bajrang Sonawane, had previously sent a message to the professor expressing ''immense pride'' in handing over his daughter for her further education, the order said. There was nothing to suggest that the act or behaviour of the applicant compelled Stuti Sonawane to commit suicide, the court held, while allowing Dr Banga's anticipatory bail.

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