On April 20, junior Indian student of Yerevan State Medical University Prashant Anchalia (21 years old), fell down from the sixth floor of the seventh floor of the Zeitun hostel and died. It seems that this tragic death was used to criticize the rector of Yerevan State University, Gohar Kyalyan.
The tragic event happened on April 20 around 13:30 – 14:00. The first to see this tragedy and inform the hostel administration were the citizens living in the 8th section of the mentioned hostel. The citizens called the local police department and hospital for help at once. But in spite of this the ambulance arrived on the scene only in 45-50 minutes. The student died on his way to hospital. At first the Indian students blamed the ambulance for their friend’s death by saying that they had arrived late and they didn’t have enough medicine with them to help the student. Later the Indian students didn’t let the doctors take the body to the mortuary and insisted on having their university and Embassy representatives be present. Later they insisted on letting some of them be present there during the procedures. The doctors agreed to this demand and let them be present. After this they insisted on letting some of them stay with the body at night, claiming that someone might inject alcohol or other poisonous things in the body. “Since the body had to be kept in the fridge, we couldn’t let them stay there all night long. But we agreed with them in this case too: we told them even if such a bad violation was made, the heart didn’t function and the blood would not circulate in the body and the inserted liquid would stay where it was. Since they are future doctors they understood us and agreed”, says the deputy rector of the university and head of the foreign relations department, E. Sahakyan. But the Indian students got very active after the announcement of the deputy Ambassador of India to Armenia, Mr. Bali, saying that the one responsible for this tragedy was the medical university administration. What’s more, they gave an ultimatum saying that if the rector didn’t meet them and meet their requirements the consequences would be severe. As for their requirements, neither the students nor the deputy ambassador said anything. We only understand that the students demand that they want the medical university administration to guarantee the security of the students because they don’t feel secure staying in the hostel. Later, when the rector invited the students to the university hall for a talk and told them that it was better to meet inside than outside, the students refused: “The only thing she said was that it was impossible to listen to each other outside and invited everyone inside in order to discuss the whole matter. They refused to come in, and the rector obviously refused to go outside either”. The students got angry at the rector and showed her the “middle finger”. “It is impolite to do that to the rector, especially when the rector is a woman”, the rector did the same to the students, after which they got very angry and organized a rally in front of the parliament building. According to the university administration, this rally was organized by several students who were in danger of being expelled from the university and their goal was to save themselves. “We don’t have any final information, but there are 3-4 students on the verge of being expelled form the university. They have injured each other during some conflicts and currently this case is being persecuted by the police. We are simply waiting for their final decision and estimations to take certain actions”, says E. Sahakyan. It turns out that Indians have their own rules and there are “tough guys” among them too; these are the ones that have been in Armenia for a long time already. “We have tried to get the “tough guys” concept out of the minds of the students at the university, but they have always been trying to take counteractions. They know well that often newspapers write good or bad things about us, and they managed to take advantage of the situation to criticize us with the purpose of adopting their rules in the university. We will not let them do this”, says E. Sahakyan. What is the university to blame for? “I recommend you to decide for yourself what the university is to blame for, Please, take the time to listen to both sides of the story and then make your own assumptions”, says E. Sahakyan.
Yesterday, after school the Indian students organized a condolence gathering in the hall of the university. The Indian students had already calmed down and they refused to give any comments concerning what had happened the day before. The university administration was busy with transferring the body to India. Two Indians will be part of the group taking the body to India, one of which is Punja Goyal, who is from the city where Prashant Anchalay used to live. Pubja says this was an accident and she is sure that Prashant didn’t want to commit suicide. “I know that he liked to sit on the window and look at the view outside. Now that he has passed away, nothing else matters. I just wish I had enough willpower to take his body to his parents and relatives”, says Punja. The rest is up to the police.