Ragging News From Indian Colleges

All NIFFT hostels vacated after ragging menace rocks campus

raggingnews@noragging.com — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:03:00 +0000

RANCHI: Students of National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology (NIFFT), Ranchi, have been asked to vacate the campus after the college authorities ordered closure of all hostels on Sunday.

The action was taken after the students of second, third and fourth year classes barged into the rooms of first year students, ragged and fought with them on Thursday. The seniors also damaged the windows of the junior students' rooms and ransacked their belongings.

NIFFT director S N Sinha said, "Senior students not only had a scuffle with the juniors but when I tried to intervene and stop them, they even threw stones at my house and broke the glass of my car. The situation had gone out of control."

"I am not here to spoil the career of students. I took action after I got orders from the headquarters in Delhi. Taking this step was necessary to diffuse the tension," Sinha added.

After the hostel was vacated, some students went home and others met Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay seeking justice. "We walked down 8 km to meet Sahay. But he was not in town. However, he got the HEC community hall opened for us to spend the night," said Sonu, a third year student.

The students met him on Monday morning. "He said he would take a positive step in this direction and also spoke to the college administration and asked them to reopen the hostel," said Chandan, a fourth year student.

"Most of the students have gone back home and those who are here will stay at their relatives or friends' place until further notice," added Chandan. An agitated Rahul said, "We did nothing. Why should we suffer for the mistake of others? We have all the right to stay in the hostel and attend classes."

The institute director said the hostel would be reopened 20 days later after talking to the guardians of the students.

Hatia additional superintendent of police Indrajeet Mahata said, "We have deployed a magistrate and police at the college gate and in case students try to create any disturbance, appropriate measures will be taken on the orders of the magistrate."

Harassed Presidency University first-year student slashes wrist in hostel

raggingnews@noragging.com — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

KOLKATA: Political scuffle raised its ugly head on Thursday night at Hindu Hostel, with a harassed first-year student of Presidency University attempting suicide.

Political science student Ajay Dewan of Tripura survived after slashing his wrist in the face of continuous harassment by his seniors. Ajay alleged his tormentors owed allegiance to Students Federation of India (SFI), CPM's student wing.

Trouble was brewing in ward No. 2 of Hindu Hostel, once tagged the home for apolitical students. "When we applied for accommodation, seniors assured us that students lived together in harmony in ward No. 2 and political allegiance wouldn't matter. But on moving in, the scenario turned hostile. We were constantly harassed. SFI students who reside in our wards made fun of Ajay," said his roommate Sumalya Mukhopadhyay, a second-year English honours student.

"Our seniors organized a ward tour to Shankarpur a few weeks back. Since we sympathized with Independents Consolidation, we were tortured and harassed and refused to go. A ward meeting was convened on Thursday. Usually, the agenda is put up on the notice board. But no agenda was mentioned for this meeting. We feared the meeting was called to harass Dewan and two of us who are his friends. Our fears proved right," he said.

'SFI seniors wanted to throw us out'

On Thursday night, English honours student Sumalya Mukhopadhyay alleged, "The meeting began with the SFI hostel residents of the ward accusing us of violating the code of conduct and spreading intra-ward words. They also claimed that we were promoting our political agenda inside the ward, which was once free from politics. A vote of ward boarders on this issue was taken. Since SFI students dominate the ward, a resolution was adopted 40-8 against us."

Sumalya added, "Three SFI seniors then decided that Ajay, me and Nitabjyo Banerjee should be thrown out of the hostel. Though some seniors tried to protect us, the SFI trio was hell-bent on throwing us out. As this torture and abuse was on for weeks, Ajay went outside the room and banged his wrist against a glass door. He was bleeding profusely. We rushed him to Medical College where he received stitches. We have lodged an FIR against the three SFI hostel residents."

When TOI visited Hindu Hostel, Ajay was sleeping on the ground floor with his right wrist bandaged. "The seniors had always harassed us. We refused to go on the ward tour because we feared the seniors would intensify their ragging after consuming alcohol at Shankarpur. Hence we stayed away. The torture has been on for too long and has started to bother me. I found no way out of this menace and thus ended up hurting myself," Ajay said.

Two students ragged by seniors on running train

raggingnews@noragging.com — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:57:00 +0000

n an alleged case of ragging, two engineering students from Kerala studying in Tamil Nadu were brutally assaulted by their seniors on a Kerala-bound train on Friday night while their co-passengers looked on.

Geeverghese John and Arun Raj, both 19, were travelling in the general compartment of the train when their seniors, most of them inebriated, allegedly demanded their ATM cards and money.

When John and Raj refused, they were attacked with blades and iron rods. The bleeding students then got off at Erode where they were taken to a government hospital by railway authorities.
John, a student of Jnanamani Engineering College in Salem, has now been admitted to the Specialists' Hospital in Kochi with deep wounds and cuts all over his body. More than 50 stitches were required to stop the bleeding.

Raj too had several stitches on his body and forehead and is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Thrissur.

“The seniors even threatened to throw us out of the running train,” John said. The Tamil Nadu police have registered a case and alerted their Kerala counterpart to help name the accused.

Hostel inmates rebel over eviction of 3 girls accused of ragging

raggingnews@noragging.com — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:54:00 +0000

NAGPUR: Girls from a government hostel thronged the social welfare office on Thursday and protested for the entire day after the warden evicted three senior girls for allegedly ragging two sisters. The evicted girls and rest of the hostel residents claimed the ragging allegations were false, and demanded that the seniors girls should be allowed back in the hostel. Finally, the three girls were allowed to stay till senior social welfare officials return from Mumbai.

Smita Kamde, Namrapali Gondane and Sangeeta Bankar, all students of LLM second year, were thrown out of the hostel after Shalini and Nalini Bagde alleged ragging and torture by them.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Bagde sisters, staying at a government hostel in Sakkardara, had alleged torture and ragging since last week by three senior girls. They had even gone to file a complaint at Sadar police station but were turned away. Police said a case could be registered only after the warden or other government official lodged a complaint.

On Thursday, the rest of the girls at the hostel raised slogans and marched to the divisional commissioner's officer to protest the eviction of three senior girls. However, they were turned away since the commissioner was not in the city. The protesting girls were also sent back from the police commissioner's office as police chief Ankush Dhanvijay was busy in a meeting. Later, the girls reached Sadar police station where they were assured of proper action against the warden.

"There was no ragging at all. The Bagde sisters are lying," said Sangeeta. The girls said that a few months ago these three seniors had complained and protested against the then warden Rajni Vaidya for harassing and forcing them to do extra work at the hostel. "She would abuse us and threaten to oust us from the hostel. Hence, the seniors complained about her and she was suspended," said Sangeeta.

Shalini claims that since she and her sister did not support the seniors in the complaint against Vaidya, they accused Nalini of stealing a cell phone and beat her in front of other girls.

The other girls however allege that since Vaidya is a distant relative of the Bagde sisters, she might have forced the sisters to file a complaint against the girls.

Lajwanti Singar, present warden of the hostel, denied any ragging happened in the hostel. She said that till higher officials return from Mumbai, all the girls will be allowed to stay in the hostel. Social welfare officer Siddharth Gaikwad did not pick up phone calls.

SB student falls to death, father blames ragging

raggingnews@noragging.com — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:53:00 +0000

CUTTACK: The SB Women’s College here was shocked on Monday when a student and hostel boarder allegedly fell to death on the campus. Police are investing all angles __ whether it was an accident or suicide or any other foul play.
The girl __ Swayamsiddha Jagyanseni Sahoo __ a Plus Three first year student, was found lying in a pool of blood on the ground near the Old Hostel of the college. She had apparently fallen from the roof of the three-storey building.
Sahoo, daughter of Executive Engineer Hrudananda Sahoo posted at Jeypore, was staying in the first floor. She is believed to have climbed up to the roof at around 8 am.
Stunned authorities and students managed to come to terms with the incident a couple of hours after and the police were informed. Police rushed to the spot and sent the body for postmortem.
According to Lalbag Police, how she fell down is yet to be established. Either she might have committed suicide for some reason or might have slipped and fallen absent-minded while talking over phone. Her phone has been recovered from beside the body, police said.
Police are investigating all aspects, said her parents who reached here after receiving the news. The father of the girl, who was in Bhubaneswar from Sunday, has alleged that his daughter died due to ragging. A case has been registered.

Two medical students suspended for ragging

raggingnews@noragging.com — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:50:00 +0000

The victim was made to kneel down and manhandled. He was hospitalised

Two students of Mundiampakkam Government Medical College have been placed under suspension for ragging a junior student.

A police complaint has been filed in this regard.

Police said Mahesh (19) of Thirukkoilur and Mohammad Batcha (19) of Manapparai used to rag R. Deepak (17), a first-year student from Tiruppattur.

The seniors forced Deepak to do their bidding and asked him to pay them money.

When he refused to oblige, they beat him up and made him to kneel down. After he was seriously manhandled by the seniors on Saturday, Deepak got admitted to the medical college hospital.

The police booked a case by invoking Section 294 (b) (using abusive language) and 323 (causing hurt) of the IPC.

When contacted, college Dean Thenmozhi Valli said appropriate action would be initiated against the two students after getting the views of the academic council.

Pariyaram MC closed indefinitely

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:29:00 +0000

KANNUR: In the wake of continuing students’ protest and violence in the Pariyaram Cooperative Medical College for the past two days, college authorities on Wednesday decided to close the college indefinitely. The spate of violence started on Tuesday night when students residing in the men’s hostel were allegedly attacked by a group of people.

Inmates of the hostel alleged that a gang of people led by two hospital officials have attacked them over the issue of ragging a second year student. Ten students and two doctors were injured in the attack.Though ADM N T Mathew, Managing Director K Ravi and Principal Radhakrishnan visited the hospital soon after the incident, students protested and blockaded the officials.

On Wednesday, students boycotted classes and staged a blockade in front of the Academy of Medical Sciences Director’s office and Principal’s office.

Medical student suspended for ragging

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:27:00 +0000

Jaipur, Jan 3 (IANS) A senior medical college student was suspended in Rajasthan after some junior students accused him and his friends of ragging, an official said Tuesday.

The alleged ragging took place in Jhalawar Medical College late Monday.

“Some fourth year MBBS students have been accused of harassing seven junior students in the college hostel,” a college official told IANS.

The junior students alleged that they were asked to follow some commands and were beaten up when some of them refused to do so.

“They say that they were even slapped and made to stand out in the open in the cold night,” said the official.

He added that a student, Amrit Meena, has been suspended. “An enquiry against other senior students has been taken up by the college’s disciplinary committee,” said the official.

Cases of ragging at educational institutes in Rajasthan come up from time to time despite strict Supreme Court directives against the practice.

Last September, criminal cases were slapped against five students of Mohanlal Sukhadia University in Udaipur after a first-year Bachelor of Science student went into depression after he was ragged.

In the same month, 16 students were booked for ragging an engineering student in Jodhpur’s Jai Narain Vyas University. In another ragging case on Sep 8, a 19-year-old girl was allegedly ragged by her seniors at a private engineering college at Bhankrota in Jaipur.
This caused her to fall from the fourth floor of her college hostel and she died in SMS Hospital in Jaipur.

Keeping in view the increasing number of ragging incidents in Rajasthan, some universities have made it mandatory for all the students to sign an affidavit during admissions stating that they would not indulge in any ragging-related activities.

Acting on Supreme Court directives, some higher education institutions have equipped themselves with CCTV cameras and asked the student counsellors to check ragging activities. However, many colleges have failed to comply with the norms.

Three engineering students expelled for ragging in Bihar

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:26:00 +0000

Patna : Three students of Motihari Engineering College in Bihar, including a girl, have been expelled on charges of ragging a junior student, officials said Wednesday.

The three students, including a girl, allegedly ragged a junior student Monica Shailesh on October 15. Monica, a first year student, had alleged that she was subjected to ragging by some seniors when she was standing at the college counter for registration.

After she filed a complaint, the college disciplinary action committee inquired into it and found that the three were responsible for the incident.

"Strict action was taken against the students on the instruction of Science and Technology Department," an official said.

Motihari Engineering College is one of the six government-run engineering colleges in Bihar.

Ragging drives schoolgirl to commit suicide

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:25:00 +0000

CHENNAI: A 16-year-old girl student of a government higher secondary school in Tiruvallur, 50 km from here, committed suicide by hanging on Wednesday, allegedly after being ragged by senior boys.

Police registered a case under IPC Section 306 (abetment of suicide) and launched a hunt for three Plus Two students of the school. "The three students reside in Veda Colony, near the school," police said. Soon after the incident, the girl's family and relatives staged a protest, demanding the arrest of the three boys and some of the school staff.

K Thilagavathi, a Plus One student of the Madharpakkam Government Higher Secondary School, was found hanging from a ceiling fan at her house by her father R Kumar on Wednesday evening. "The girl used to walk to school and had told her parents about the ragging by some senior boys," a police officer said. "But her parents didn't take her complaints seriously."

P Nagarajan, a relative, said the teachers also failed to take steps to prevent ragging even after her complaints. "It was mental torture that forced her to commit suicide," he said.

Initial investigations revealed that she quarrelled with a group of Plus Two students after they took her notebooks and refused to return them.

Some students told police that the boys described the girl as a "villager" and ragged her on December 10 and 16.

"We rushed to the spot after we got the information and shifted the body to the Ponneri Government Hospital for postmortem. Initially, the family members refused to receive the body in protest but later agreed after revenue officials and police officers promised that those responsible would be brought to book," a police officer said.

AP: Ragging led to student’s death?

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:23:00 +0000

VISAKHAPATNAM: Police have got no clue yet on the cause of the death of K Lazaron Victor Raj (18), a firstyear student of B.Tech at the Avanthi Institute Of Engineering and Technology at Makavarapalem in the district.

Raj drowned in PVJR Swimming Pool at Anakapalle on Saturday. He was in the pool along with 14 second- year students of the same college who had bunked classes and gone there to enjoy themselves.

His relatives lodged a complaint with the Anakapalle police station that the senior students had killed Raj in the name of ragging as no other first-year student had gone on the picnic with them.

Police said all 15 students, including Raj, did not inform the management of the college or their parents about the picnic. And, none of the students knew swimming.

Raj drowned in the pool which was about 12 feet deep.

Ironically, other students did not notice that Raj drowned.

Some locals, who had gone to the pool, fished out the body and shifted it to a government hospital at Anakapalle where Raj was declared ‘brought dead’.

Speaking to Express, college principal C Mohan Rao said some second- year students of the college were classmates of Lazaron Victor Raj in Intermediate at Sri Chaitanya College in Visakhapatnam.

Raj had failed Intermediate in 2010 and cleared the examination in 2011, he said.

But Raj’s uncle, PJ Manohar, said none of the secondyear students was a friend of Raj and accused the Avanthi College management of misleading the police. Raj was a resident of Marripalem. His father K Dyvavaram is a Church Pastor and mother K Aparanji a housewife.

10 students suspended on ragging charge

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:22:00 +0000

JORHAT: Ten students of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV), Lakhimpur, were suspended on Thursday for their alleged involvement in ragging a junior student of the institute. School authorities said a probe has been ordered to find out the truth.

"We have temporarily rusticated 10 students of our school for their alleged involvement in ragging on the campus. A probe is on to ascertain the truth," said an official of the school. He added that the parents of a junior student had filed a complaint that their son was assaulted by some senior students.

Victim Abhijit Bhuyan, a student of Class VIII of JNV, Lakhimpur, was untraced from the school since December 10. He was found in Itanagar on Wednesday. The family of the student said Abhijit was physically and mentally tortured by senior students.

"I was ragged by a group of senior students for the last few days. Besides mental torture, they also assaulted me and forced me to do some work in the name of ragging. Therefore, I found it hard to continue in the school and went to Itanagar to escape their brutality," said Abhijit.

He added that although school authorities tried to stop ragging, some students belonging to the higher secondary section regularly carry out ragging and target some junior students.

The school, which is situated in the Narayanpur area, is a premier co-educational residential school in the district.

Four students suspended for ragging

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:21:00 +0000

CHENNAI: The Maduravoyal police have registered a ragging case against four students of Raja Rajeswari Engineering College for teasing and assaulting a first-year student of the college. The management has placed the four students under suspension.

Prabakaran from Madurai was ragged and assaulted by four second-year engineering students, Rex V M Raj, Ravivarma, Arun Pandian and Sasidharan. Based on Prabakaran's complaint, the Maduravoyal police registered a case. Prabakaran also lodged a formal complaint with the college administration. After an inquiry, the four students were placed under suspension.

5 girl students suspended for ragging

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:20:00 +0000

KAITHAL: Five girl students of Haryana College of Technology and Management here have been suspended from the institute's hostel for allegedly ragging and bullying a junior in front of students of the institute.

BTech student Aakriti, a resident of Agra (UP), had alleged that the five girls had been torturing her in various ways, including compelling her to perform certain tasks to make her video clippings.

On Tuesday, hundreds of girl students went on strike demanding action against the five girls, who were suspended from hostel on Tuesday evening.

The agitating girls said that earlier they were tolerating all this, but when a girl spoke against them, others followed. A few girls reportedly alleged that they were even forced to wash the clothes of these five girls. A girl alleged that they hit her in the arm with a knife a few days ago.

Institute principal Dr D P Gupta told TOI, "Based on the complaint, we have suspended the five girls. But we cannot conclude at this moment whether it was ragging. We have constituted a committee to probe the matter."

Panel to probe slapping of intern doctor at NCH

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:19:00 +0000

SURAT: The issue of an intern doctor being slapped by a resident doctor in Government Medical College (GMC) located in New Civil Hospital (NCH) campus fizzled out on the second day with authorities saying that the incident does not amount to ragging.

However, on the demand of intern doctors, a three-member committee has been formed to look into the incident. The committee will submit its report on Thursday.

Talking to TOI, GMC dean Dr G A Patel said, "It was an isolated incident and doesn't classify as ragging because it was not preplanned act of a group on another group. However, we will decide on the future course of action after the committee submits its report." Close to 100 intern doctors, who went on strike on Monday, resumed work and the situation returned to normal at NCH. A resident doctor Amol Jadhav had slapped an intern doctor Ujjawal Devaliya on Sunday following arguments over a petty issue.

The committee consists of head of psychiatry department Dr Ritambhara Mehta, head of PSM department Dr N D Kanthariya and head of forensic department Dr Ganesh Govekar.

Dr Govekar said, "We are in the process of investigations, but it doesn't look like an incident of ragging." Dr Mehta said, "The committee is constituted to find if it was the incident of ragging or not. We are yet to arrive at the conclusion." Meanwhile, an intern doctor said on the condition of anonymity, "We are working today, but waiting for the report. We will not tolerate such behaviour from resident doctors. If they don't punish the guilty, we will resume our agitation." tnn

Students from Jharkhand and Bihar beaten up in Orissa

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:18:00 +0000

Students of Jharkhand and Bihar, studying in Synergy Institute of Engineering and Technology, Dhenkanal, were allegedly beaten up by local students of the college on Friday.

The college administration has asked all the students to vacate the hostel immediately.
The local students were angry after the seniors from Bihar and Jharkhand prevented them from ragging their juniors from these states a few days ago.

Anarchy prevails at Researchers Hostel

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:16:00 +0000

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Here is an irony. While the inmates of hostels on the Kariavattom campus of Kerala University are on a stir to get their hostel building which are in a poor state to be renovated, another section of knowledge seekers exist on the campus, who wouldn’t mind if a chunk of ceiling fell over them, provided they get a room, which they are deprived of, despite being legally eligible.

They are the group of research scholars, who had applied for rooms, but were denied the facility citing lack of sufficient vacant rooms. They now live in rented houses near the campus, paying exorbitant rents. They blame the former inmates of the hostel, who have not vacated their rooms, even years after completing their PhD, for all the trouble.

The situation has given rise to several undesirable events, including the hostel being turned into a hub of anti-social activities such as substance abuse and ragging. There are as many as 23 rooms in the Researchers’ Hostel, which are occupied by outsiders. While some among them are former inmates, who have completed their PhD, others are ‘total outsiders’. Of the 23 rooms, 13 are occupied by employees working in various government departments. All these things happen because the offenders have the silent support of the authorities and also the hostel committee, says a research scholar on condition of anonymity.

“I was denied a room despite belonging to the reservation category. Following this, I had to rent a house near the campus, which costs me dear owing to the proximity to Technopark,” he added. However, he did not dare to raise voice against this injustice.

Meanwhile, another research scholar, who is an inmate of the hostel and a witness to the activities there, said that complete anarchy prevails at the hostel.

“These illegal occupants invite their friends to the hostel to organise booze parties. They even threaten new inmates and rag them. Even a police case on ragging that was registered just a week ago had to be withdrawn after the hostel committee stopped providing food to the complainant, who hailed from Tamil Nadu,” he said.

He also said that irregularities exist in the allotment of staff quarters too. Several quarters, that are strictly limited to University employees, are now occupied by employees of other departments.

Accused of ragging, four NIFT students suspended

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:15:00 +0000

SHIMLA: Four students of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at Chheb in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh have been suspended for a year after they were found guilty of ragging 20 students of first year course two months back. The action followed after NIFT headquarters in Delhi decided to act tough against the accused students.

The college administration had already expelled one senior student in the case. NIFT at Kangra, second in north India after NIFT, New Delhi, was opened in August 2009. The ragging incident was the first such case in its two years of functioning. The incident had sent alarm bells ringing as Aman Kachroo ragging death case at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College at Tanda is still fresh in people's mind.

A disciplinary committee was constituted to enquire the incident after junior students lodged a complaint with anti-ragging committee of the institution against five senior students, alleging ragging of juniors on October 6 and 7 in the hostel. Authorities had, however, maintained that ragging took place when the juniors were going out.

Confirming the development, NIFT Kangra director Dinesh Rangra said that students were already under suspension but now they have been suspended for a year.

"After the probe, the committee found the four students guilty, on which we recommended punishment to our headquarters," he said. tnn

Man says Dastur School harassing his son

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:14:00 +0000

The Father of a Class V student of Sardar Dastur Boy’s School has complained against the principal of Sardar Dastur Hoshang Boys School, alleging that the school has been targeting his child and harassing him for no reason. But the school said the child has some behavioral and disciplinary problems for which he has been given several warnings.

Javed Mulla on Saturday submitted an application to Bund Garden Police station, saying, “The school management has been targeting my child from Day 1. They accused my 11-year-old son of ragging his classmates. Last week, the principal called my wife and forcibly made her sign a letter that in case there is another complaint against the child, he will be rusticated.”

No official complaint has been lodged yet. However, principal Lily Patel refused to accept any allegations. “The child has shown disciplinary problems from the very beginning. He is known to have shown erratic behaviour in class. Recently, he pulled down the pants of another student. Our counsellor has been trying to help the child. But the father is not ready to accept that his child needs therapy,” said Patel. Counsellor Vaishali Pilimoria said, “The boy has disciplinary problems.”

12 students injured in group clash at BRM College

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:12:00 +0000

In Bhiwani, 12 students were injured in a group clash at a local college. Freshers and second-year students of BRM College at Bahal exchanged fistcuffs on late Tuesday night.

Juniors alleged that their seniors barged into their hostel rooms and attacked them with iron rods and sticks. They alleged that they were being forced to smoke cigarettes and sing vulgar songs.

The college principal, however, rubbished the ragging claims, saying old enmity was the reason behind the fight.

2 engg students arrested for ragging

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:09:00 +0000

BANKURA, 14 NOV: Two fourth-year students of a private engineering college in Bankura were arrested today on charges of ragging a second-year student. The victim has been admitted to hospital.
The Anti-Ragging Committee of Mallabhum Institute of Technology, the private-owned engineering college in Bishnupur, meanwhile, has started an independent probe into the charges.
Dwaipayan Ghosh (see sns photo), the victim and a second year student, complained that two fourth-year students ~ Shantanu Chowdhury and Prithvijit Roy ~ entered his hostel room twice at 10.30 p.m. and at 2 a.m. last night and beat him up. He said: “As I refused to do dirty things they were asking for, they beat me up with a hockey stick. When I screamed for help my hostel mates rescued me. They returned again at 2 a.m. and forced open the door and continued the same torture.”
The student was taken to the Bishnupur SD Hospital this morning. He was released within an hour. After returning to the hostel the student felt severe discomfort and was taken to the SD Hospital again where he was admitted.
Considering the gravity of the situation, the college asked for immediate police intervention. Led by SDPO, Bishnupur, Mr DJ Das, a police contingent took control over the situation and arrested the accused students. Mr Pradip Ghosh, father of the victim, rushed to Bishnupur from Thakurpukur this evening. He alleged: “The college lacks proper surveillance. I came to know that similar instances had taken place in the past. The authorities had assured me security so I had agreed to admit my son.”

Ragging fear keeps RIMS freshers away from hostel

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:08:00 +0000

RANCHI: First year students of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) want to stay away from hostels fearing ragging by seniors. Most of the freshers have opted to stay in rented accommodations outside the campus to avoid late night torture.
An incident of ragging was reported from the campus about a month back and ever since students have been panicking.

One of the victims, a first year student, claimed he suffered partial hearing loss after some of his seniors hit him on the ear.

However, RIMS director Tulsi Mahato, claimed that no student is running away from the campus. "I am personally keeping an eye on the activities of students to ensure no fresher is harassed. The occupancy rate in hostels is less because the process of allotment of hostels is still on," said Mahato.

Sources in the medical college said out of 150 students in the first year, almost 90 per cent have not shifted to hostels.

"The ragging sessions will slowly come down and in the next couple of months all the students will start living in hostels," said a source, adding that in the mean time they will develop a healthy relation with seniors.

Mahato said that since staying in hostel is not compulsory, students are free to opt for accommodation outside. "First year students staying in private accommodations should not be related to ragging," he added.

At the same time the director admitted that there was a case of ragging, which was brought to his notice sometime back. "Parents of a student, as well as the anti-ragging cell of the University Grants Commission, which has a toll free number for registering complaints against ragging, had brought the case to my notice. I have constituted a team which is looking into the matter. The moment I receive the report, action will be taken against the students involved in ragging," said Mahato.

On the other hand SP (city) Ranjit Prasad said the police are yet to receive any written complaint from a victim or an institute. "We came to know about ragging through local newspapers in which it was said that victims had approached the police but we are yet to receive any complaint. Let them approach the police. Only then we will be able to take action," said the SP.

Jharkhand medical college student complains of ragging

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:06:00 +0000

Jamshedpur, Nov 18 (PTI) A first year student of a state run medical college here today lodged a complaint with the police that he was ragged by his senior in the hostel. The student, Amit Kumar, lodged the complaint with MGM police station saying he was beaten up, stripped, forced to drink liquor and locked in a toilet by his seniors on the night of November 16, the police said. Senior Superintendent of Police, Akhilelsh Kumar Jha said the police received the complaint of Amit, hailing from Deoghar district of Jharkhand, and would begin investigation. Principal of the college Prof A N Mishra, who was in Patna now to attend a conference, said the victim did not stay in the hostel and did no lodge any complaint with the college authorities about the ragging. Mishra said the hostel superintendent in-charge went to look into the matter but found the allegation to be false. However, Mishra said he would investigate the matter again and punish the responsible students, if found guilty. Amit, who was staying in a lodge, alleged that he was forcibly taken to the hostel by a group of senior students that night claiming they would provide him a room. There he was asked to strip and when he refused, the seniors assaulted him, forced him to drink liquor, stripped him naked, made him do sit ups, and locked him up in a toilet where he stayed the rest of the night, Amit claimed. In the wee hours, however, he managed to get out of the toilet and fled to a relative's place, he said. The complaint came close on the heels of another ragging complaint at Sainik School, Tilaiya, into which the police had started investigation on November 15.

Staff, police try to hush up ragging at Osmania University

raggingnews@noragging.com — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:05:00 +0000

It has come to light that Osmania University officials and the police have tried their best to hush up an incident of ragging at the Public Administration department in the Arts College.

In the first ragging incident reported at the Arts College in 25 years, juniors had alleged that the seniors had been ragging them for several days. They informed the officials that they had kept quite keeping in mind the reputation of the university, but the seniors were taking advantage of this and were behaving indecently, especially with the girl students.

The juniors had also filed a complaint at the OU police station.University officials, however, took all measures to ensure that the students withdrew their complaints against seniors.

A junior, Ms K. Karuna, who had lodged the complaint with the officials, said that the seniors had made casteist remarks against SC, ST students by asking them to introduce themselves in English, Telugu.
She informed the officials that the seniors had also made indecent comments about the physical features of girl students and had asked the SC, ST boys to stand on one leg for an hour.

Instead of taking action, the officials conducted a meeting between the seniors and juniors on Thursday and tried to resolve the issue.

They said that cases should not be lodged keeping in view the future of the students and warned the seniors of severe actions if they resorted to ragging in future.

"We have convened a meeting between seniors and juniors to resolve the issue. The seniors apologised for their indecent behaviour and gave a written undertaking that they would not repeat such acts. The juniors accepted their request and agreed to withdraw their complaint," said Prof. B. Laxmaiah, Dean of Students Affairs.

Prof. Laxmaiah and Arts College Principal Mr Keshava Narayana 'mediated' with the students to resolve the issue. They later went to the OU police station along with the students and requested the police not to lodge cases since the students had reached an understanding.

When contacted, OU vice-chancellor Prof. Satyanarayana dismissed the ragging incident and said that it was only a petty quarrel between students.

"We had summoned the seniors and juniors to give an explanation. They told us that there were some differences among them and these had been resolved. The juniors agreed to withdraw the complaints after the seniors apologised. We have taken all measures to curb ragging on the campus and as such we will not tolerate any kind of ragging," he said.

In February 2009, the Supreme Court had issued directions to all state governments to take stringent anti-ragging measures, including filing criminal cases against erring students.

It had also ordered for a cut in financial aid to educational institutions found protecting students involved in ragging.

JU boy lodges ragging complaint

raggingnews@noragging.com — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:34:00 +0000

KOLKATA: A complaint of ragging has been lodged by a first-year engineering student of Jadavpur University (JU) with the helpline of University Grants Commission (UGC).

The student has complained of physical torture and harassment by seniors in his hostel. "We have received a letter from the UGC informing us of the complaint. It requested the university to look into the matter," said JU registrar Pradip Kumar Ghosh.

He added, "We received the letter before the puja vacations. Since then, we have consistently tried to contact the victim who has alleged ragging. He is refusing to cooperate and is elusive. He resides outside the city and has not yet returned to the campus." The complaint has been lodged against three seniors. "We have not yet been able to form a committee to look into the matter since the fact-finding is still pending," informed Ghosh.

A first-year JU student complained on September 29 that he was subjected to intense physical and mental torture by senior engineering students at his hostel on the night of September 27. The student said his alleged tormentors threatened him with dire consequences if he went to the authorities against them. "A committee has already been formed to look into the matter. It is investigating the case," said the registrar.

On January 14, 2009, JU took the unprecedented decision of slapping a fine of Rs 5,000 on some students and Rs 10,000 on former students involved in ragging a girl of the architecture department a year earlier.