An unmarried student of the institute had given birth to a stillborn child in the hostel in September last year. Noted activist Amit Jethwa had then written a letter to the Home Department alleging that there was a strong possibility of the girl being raped by the faculty members who were in a position to take advantage of the students.

A police inquiry into the matter conducted under the supervision of the Superintendent of Police, Gandhinagar had come to the conclusion that the girl had become pregnant because of physical relations with her lover. The police report had further said that the girl's parents were aware of the relationship, adding that the child was born prematurely and had died a natural death.

Jethwa, however, said the police did not conduct a proper investigation into the matter. In light of the Patan case, there is a need to reinvestigate the matter. "These things are very common in the PTCs. The system of internal marking makes the students vulnerable to the teachers. The manner in which the delivery was carried out, points towards recklessness on the part of the hostel administration. If the girl was pregnant, she should have been admitted to a hospital and not kept hidden in the hostel."

Elsewhere, the incident of gang rape at the Patan PTC has elicited some sharp reactions from the political parties as well as civil society organisations in the state.

Noted activist Fr Cedric Praksh has sent a petition to the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to act expeditiously in the matter to ensure that the state government immediately dismisses from service all those responsible for the act. He said he has also requested the commission to urge the judiciary to take this case in a fast-track court to mete out justice to the victim. State secretary of CPI (M), Arun Mehta in a press statement alleged that such incidents are a direct fall out of the state government's open backing of the perpetrators of the Chandni rape case from Junagarh.

Mehta said that PTC colleges across the state have become money-making shops with numerous BJP leaders being involved in them. Mehta demanded a CBI investigation into the entire episode.