Student Expelled From Hostel After Asking For Depression Leave Shows How We Perceive Mental Health

A woman college student was expelled from the hostel after she requested medical leave for a week. She has recently been diagnosed with moderate depressive disorder. The woman was studying at the Regional Institute of Education in Bhopal.

She was asked to vacate the Vinay Niketan Hostel of the institute after the administration claimed that her prescription was fake. She was also notified to immediately vacate her hostel room and be 'be handed over to her guardian'.

Pinjda Tod, a feminist movement that seeks to protect the rights of a woman, shared the incident in a Facebook post.

Pinjra Tod said that the woman was accused of presenting a fake doctor prescription of her medical condition and that the Vinay Niketan Hostel administration held her condition as an excuse for her to be expelled from the hostel.

According to the hostel rules, students are expected to produce documents to seek leaves, be it a wedding or a medical leave.

The prescription she had submitted lacked countersignature/stamp of AIIMS. This was considered a genuine mistake and lapse on part of the hospital. It was later rectified by the hospital authorities.

The hostel administration called the woman¡¯s father and threatened to hand his daughter to the police. They even told him that he should be glad that they didn¡¯t immediately throw the woman out of the hostel.

They even challenged him to take the matter to court.

Depression and mental health issues have been ignored in the country and incidents like these only make it worse. India is the most depressed country in the world, according to the World Health Organisation. At least 6.5 per cent of the Indian population suffers from some form of the serious mental disorder, with no discernible rural-urban differences.