A fifth-year student of Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Raipur identified as Urvi Bharadwaj was found dead in the girls' hostel washroom last Thursday.

On August 24, the deceased was found by hostel inmates lying on the floor of the washroom in an unconscious state. On being rushed to BALCO hospital, she was declared dead. Police are still investigating the matter to ascertain the cause of death.

As shared by some students at the University, the deceased was not attending classes for a few days before her demise. It also came to light that owing to certain developments on campus, the deceased was intimated about being debarred from appearing for the placement exam.

An emergency condolence meeting was arranged by the administration at the University's auditorium on the day of the incident. Vice-Chancellor Dr VC Vivekanandan addressed the gathering on the incident and defended the administration against speculation that students were being subjected to academic pressure.

The following day witnessed protests by Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) demanding justice for the deceased, according to a report. The demands put forth during the protest included an impartial probe into the matter and the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor. A three-day holiday was declared by the University administration following the incident, which has now been extended till September 3.

Bar & Bench has written to the University administration for a response, which was not forthcoming at the time of publication of this story.

Update at 22:00, August 28, 2023: The University has issued a press release refuting claims that the student was debarred from writing exams. The statement reads:

"The information carried by some sections of online media/blogs relating to the unfortunate demise of our student a few days back is completely false and bereft of facts. We wish to state that the student was not debarred from writing any exams at any point of time and had no backlog (arrears) papers till the last Semester. In fact, she had a CGPA of 5.8 out of seven, which is considered as a very good score.

The parents of the student came and cremated her at Raipur as per their wish and interacted with the administration of the University.

The University earnestly appeals to the media not to insult the sensibility of the parents and also make undignified remarks about the departed soul without verifying the facts based on false narratives."

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