AIIMS student suicide: 5 fellow students granted bail

Rajkot: The sessions court on Thursday granted bail to five final-year MBBS students of Rajkot AIIMS in connection with the March 16 suicide of a fellow student who had jumped in front of train near Ghanteshwar.The deceased's father, filed an FIR against Pranav Paliwal, Asmit Sharma, Ayush Yadav, Nirvighnam Nur Yadav, and Yuvraj Choudhary — alleging they physically and mentally tortured his son, filmed the beatings, and defamed him, driving him to suicide.However, the defence, led by advocate Tushar Gokani, contended that the key elements for abetment to suicide were absent in the 17-page suicide note. He highlighted that the deceased had a history of mental illness requiring medication for eight years, and the suicide was primarily driven by unrequited one-sided love for a fellow student, as repeatedly mentioned in the notes.Furthermore, Gokani pointed out that the college sent the deceased to his home in Rajasthan on Jan 30, 2026, due to his disturbed mental condition, and he had only returned to Rajkot on March 13, to write the final-year exams. The court noted that there was no immediate interaction or incident between the accused and the deceased before the suicide.Gokani also challenged the application of the Atrocity Act, arguing that the deceased was not subjected to any castiest abuses. He also cited that the deceased wrote three different suicide notes in the two months preceding his death, naming different individuals, but the common thread was his obsession with a fellow student and his resentment toward the accused, whom he wrongly believed to be in a relationship with her.Opposing the bail, the prosecution argued that the suicide note explicitly named all five students as responsible for the death and that their actions of harassing and filming the deceased constituted a strong prima facie case.After considering the arguments of prosecution and defence, the additional sessions judge, S A Galaria, granted all of them conditional bail on the conditions of not taking undue advantage of liberty, not making inducement, threat or promise to any person acquainted with the facts of the case, and surrendering passport, if any. The court also asked all the accused to furnish a bail bond of Rs 25,000.