Overview
- Jyoti, a 28-year-old PhD scholar in microbiology, was found unconscious on a waterlogged stretch of PU’s South Campus and was declared dead at a government hospital after an apparent electric shock on Tuesday.
- Chandigarh police have registered an FIR for death by negligence and are investigating the circumstances that may have involved current leaking into standing rainwater from a nearby junction box or exposed wiring.
- The university has suspended two engineering officials and formed internal and SDM-headed external committees to probe infrastructure and maintenance failures while the PU chancellor has ordered a comprehensive campus safety audit.
- A post-mortem found no obvious external injuries and tissue samples have been sent for histopathology to confirm electrocution as the cause of death; results and committee findings are pending.
- Students continue to protest and demand accountability, and the university has offered Rs 16 lakh in aid plus a job for the scholar’s brother as the human rights commission takes suo motu cognisance of the case.