Batchmates of Jyoti Sharma, a second-year BDS student at a prominent private university in Greater Noida, who died by suicide on Friday, have detailed the mental harassment she was subjected to. Speaking to India Today, they said that Jyoti was subjected to humiliation with personal comments and was often at the receiving end of the teaching staff’s taunts.

The 21-year-old student from Gurugram left behind a purported suicide note, accusing two professors and the university administration of mental harassment. She wrote that she had been mentally harassed and humiliated for a long time, which caused her distress.

Among the entries, she wrote about cutting her own hair — an act her friends later said was a visible sign of emotional distress.

Jyoti expressed a desire for the accused to face legal action. Later, the police arrested two university staff members.

Sources revealed to India Today that Jyoti had been maintaining a personal diary for several months, detailing her struggles with depression and the alleged mental harassment she faced within the Dental Science department.

Students from Jyoti’s batch, speaking on the condition of anonymity, alleged that two faculty members — Professor Mahendra and Professor Shairy — routinely used derogatory language in class, targeting students with humiliation and threats. According to them, Jyoti was often at the receiving end of such verbal abuse.

“The matter of a forged signature on an assignment is misleading,” said another student who spoke for her. The professors often harassed other students as well refusing to either sign their log sheets or saying that they didn’t sign it if they wanted to harass a student.

“Professor Shairy used to taunt her regularly,” said one of Jyoti’s classmates. “Tu paas hoke dikha (Let’s see if you can even pass)” — she would say this to Jyoti in front of everyone”.

Another student claimed that Jyoti was once told by the same professor, “Kitna ganda roti hai tu Tere se better main ro dungi (You cry so bad. I can cry better than you)”. The student these were not jokes and the tone was always meant to humiliate and belittle her.

Allegations point especially towards the Prosthodontics department, with students describing the dental materials faculty as being among the worst in terms of behavior and classroom conduct.

Stressing that Jyoti was not bad at studies, another batchmate of hers said, “She passed her dental exams, cleared vivas. She was a better-than-average student. Those saying she failed academically are lying — or covering up”.

This is not the first time the university has been in the spotlight over student suicides. In 2022, a student from Arunachal Pradesh also died by suicide on the campus. At the time, university officials had cited personal and family reasons behind the incident.

After the matter came to light on Saturday, students protested against the university administration, alleging negligence.

Later, Dr Ajit Kumar, the university’s Public Relations Officer, confirmed that two faculty members had been suspended.

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