09/09/2026
LNIPE Student Shruti Upadhyay Dies After Delayed Treatment — Students Protest, Demand Independent Inquiry
A wave of protest has hit the Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE), North East Regional Centre, after the death of 22-year-old Shruti Upadhyay — a third-year B.P.Ed student from West Bengal.
Shruti first complained of severe abdominal pain on September 4. She was taken to Sonapur District Hospital, where doctors reportedly advised she be shifted to a private hospital in Guwahati. Students allege there was a delay in this transfer as approval was sought from the LNIPE health centre doctor — and that she was finally admitted to Nemcare Hospital, Guwahati, only on the evening of September 6.
Despite treatment, Shruti passed away on the morning of September 8. Students allege her appendix had ruptured, though the official medical cause of death is yet to be confirmed.
Her mother, in a heartbreaking account, said Shruti's body was so swollen when she arrived at the hospital that she initially could not recognise her own daughter — and had to identify her by her clothes.