36 Nursing Students were punished for not attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio broadcast on April 30. The students were not allowed to leave their hostel for one week as a result. The National Institute of Nursing Education, which is part of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, issued the punishment on May 3. The punishment was routine, according to Saryu D. Madra, a consultant at the PGIMER.

Attendance at the program was compulsory for first-year and third-year students. The hostel warden had warned the students that if they did not attend, their outing would be canceled. However, 28 third-year students and 8 first-year students were absent from the program.

The PGIMER clarified that the punishment was only that the nursing students were not allowed to go on an evening outing. This was because they had failed to provide a valid excuse for their absence and missed the event.

Former members of Delhi University’s executive council Rajesh Jha and Abha Dev Habib criticized the decision to punish the nursing students. They said that such programs cannot be forced on pupils and that skipping the event could not be viewed as indiscipline.

The PGIMER requested that the situation “not be interpreted in any other way or exaggerated.” Although the college administration may have overreacted, the students had already been warned about the importance of attending the program.