Four students arrested in ragging case

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BANKURA, AUG 28 (PTI)

Four students have been arrested in connection with the ragging of Golam Zakaria, a first year polytechnic student at Bishnupur K.G. Engineering Institute, police said today.

Zakaria who was admitted to Bishnupur hospital following the ragging was mercilessly beaten up by four senior students. Cigarette marks were also found all over his body, the police said.

Principal Priyaranjan Mahanty said the incident was unfortunate and drastic action would be taken after proper inquiry.

RIMS student found hung to death

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Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, Aug 28: A medical student studying in the fourth semester at Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) here was found dead hanging in his hostel room at around 3 pm today.

The deceased student is from Nagaland and is identified as Bwenyhunloo Chung of Kohima.

Lamphel police station have registered a case and started investigating into the matter.

According to sources, it is presumed that the case might be related to a recent ragging incident at the medical institute.

However, when The Sangai Express contacted RIMS Director Professor L Fimate today evening, he ruled out the possibility of ragging leading to the death of the student.

Nonetheless, he informed that instructions have already been given to all the wardens and student union leaders to furnish the names of the students allegedly involved in ragging incidents so as to take up necessary action.

He further informed that the family members of the deceased would be arriving to pick up the body and the Institute has made the arrangement for the coffin and a bus for the transportation.

A student leader and a staff of RIMS would be accompanying the body to its native place, further informed Prof Fimate.

Ragging at School of Planning and Architechture

"Two-years-ago a murky ragging episode shot to the surface when a student was forced to commit a lewd act with a dog. Now another student has alleged that he was ragged - with some other students - incessantly for six hours."


A collection of some reports:

• NDTV
• Hindu
• Times Of India
  

Kneel-down torture in engineering college

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Durgapur Aug. 20: A first-year civil engineering student was beaten up and forced to kneel down for over two hours by his seniors at the National Institute of Technology hostel here on Friday evening.

Swapnil Sharma is still in a trauma and scared to speak. He has been treated at the college health centre and advised bed rest.

Institute director Swapan Bhattacharya said two students of electronics engineering — Diwik Tiwari of second year and Jitendra Sharma of the final year — have been suspended.

Ragging raised its ugly head for the second time in a month at the institute, formerly known as Regional Engineering College.

A second-year civil engineering student had accused seniors of torturing him then.

Swapnil’s father P.K. Sharma, an engineer with the Madhya Pradesh irrigation department, has taken up his son’s predicament with the Union ministry of human resource development. After being informed by the ministry about the incident, Burdwan district magistrate Subrata Gupta instructed Durgapur subdivisional officer Balaram Dey to begin an investigation.

Sharma called up Dey last evening and requested him to look after his son’s well being and security. He has left Gwalior for Durgapur.

Swapnil, who took admission on August 10, muttered that the seniors used to taunt him since he stepped into the institute. They often came to his room in the middle of the night and misbehaved.

“On Friday evening, they called me to their hostel around 7 pm and forced me to kneel down till 9. They also beat me with wooden rulers and punched me on my abdomen and head,” he said.

Injury marks on his forehead and cheek are still visible.

The subdivisional officer met Swapnil and the college authorities today.

The director of the institute said its own probe had found Tiwari and Sharma guilty.

“If Swapnil’s father wants to take his son home to help him recover, we will allow him to do so,” Bhattacharya added.

On July 27, Aditya Lama a third-year civil engineering student, and Tanmay Saha, a computer science and engineering student of the same batch, were suspended by the institute’s anti-ragging committee for assaulting Deepra Sarkar of the second year.

After the incident, hostel wardens had been put on alert, but that proved insufficient this time. “It is unfortunate,” the director said.

An institute official said the college was prompt in punishing the guilty on this occasion because the victim was the son of a senior government official.

Second-year electrical engineering student Swadesh Sarkar was arrested last September for ragging Himangshu Sarkar, a fresher in the information technology department, who complained only when he could no longer bear the “torture”.

[NDTV] Student alleges sexual harassment by seniors

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Though banned by the Supreme Court of India, incidents of ragging seem to be ruling the headlines in Uttaranchal.

The latest case making news is that of a class VI student alleging sexual harassment by seniors.

The search for the best education for her daughter brought Sonia Singh to Dehradun, and the Shigally Hill International Academy. It is an all-girls residential school from class III to XI, with 153 students from India, Nepal and Thailand.

It seemed like a perfect school till her daughter complained of being harassed by her seniors.

The class VI student says the harassment has been going on ever since she joined in April this year.

"We complained to the principal that these girls were verbally abusing us and when we would bathe, they would barge in. The principal promised to take action. We also went to the head principal to complain, but she asked me not to become a complaint box," said Sonia's daughter Seema (name changed).

No harassment

The State Women's Commission has now rushed to support Sonia and her daughter.

"We will summon the principal of the school, talk to her and take whatever necessary action is required," said Seema Bhatia, Member, State Women's Commission.

However, Janu Niyal, the principal of the school, refutes the allegations.

"We strongly refute and deny any allegation of sexual harassment on this campus. No such incident has been brought to my notice till date and I deny it and I know that there is something more to it than meets the eye," said Niyal.

For the moment, the police have initiated an investigation.

"A case has been registered with us by a student of class VI who was admitted in this school in May this year. She has filed a complaint stating that her seniors were sexually harassing her," said Raj Kumar, SO, Rajpur police station.

The case registered under Sections 377, 504 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code has seen Dehradun, a city known for its educational institutions, take quite a beating.

[Patna Daily] Ragging at Science College Leads to Firing; Two Injured

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Patna: August 8, 2006

Ragging at Patna Science College, on Monday, got out of hand when the bodyguard of Patna University proctor Kriteshwar Prasad opened fire at the students engaged in harassing new students injuring two students in the process.

As per the report, at around 12:00 pm, the second year students were harassing some new students who reported the incident to the proctor. When Prasad arrived at the scene with his bodyguard, the students started to run towards the zoology department.

They were chased by the bodyguard who, for some unknown reasons, opened fired at the students.

Two students identified as Rohit Kumar and Anil Kumar received bullet injuries in hand and abdomen respectively. They were rushed to the Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) where they remain in Intensive Care Unit.

The incident caused a riot-like situation within the campus as angry students damaged college properties including the office of the Vice Chancellor and blocked Ashok Rajpath for hours vandalizing cars, buses, and shops in the area while also demanding the arrest of the proctor.

Senior police officials including the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kundan Krishnan arrived at the campus with anti-riot vehicle and tried to check the violence. Six students were taken into custody but the bodyguard of Dr. Prasad is said to be absconding.

The police has detained Dr. Prasad for interrogation. Security in the campus has been heightened in anticipation of more violence, Krishnan said.

Charges against 10 NIT students in ragging case

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JALANDHAR, AUG 5 (PTI)

A city court has framed charges against ten students of Dr B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology here in the suicide case of a junior student who took the extreme step after being ragged. Amit Gangwar had committed suicide in October last year by jumping before a train and ploice had found a suicide note from the cupboard in his room which had named ten students, including a girl. The charges were framed yesterday by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Karnail Singh and the recording of evidence by the prosecution would start on October 6. The accused students include Ankit Shrivastva, Naval Malani, Sidharath Kumar, Parsun Kishore Verma, Tanuj Roy, Rohan Bhandari, Biswajit Sahu, Avijit Biswas, Parmod Hingmang and Namita Kumari. All these students had been expelled by the institute and were on bail.

...But ragging still continues at Nizam

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HYDERABAD: Days after a ragging incident that led to the murder of two third-year students of the Institute of Hotel Management, Vidyanagar, seniors are at it again.

This time at Nizam College, Basheerbagh. However, unlike the earlier incident, here juniors did not fly off in rage but reluctantly complied with all the whims of their seniors.

On Wednesday evening, first year students of Nizam College who started college on July 24 were confronted by their seniors on the college ground.

While some students said they were pulled out of classrooms and asked to sing and dance to their favourite songs, others claimed they were only asked to give their biodata to the seniors.

The usual demands from seniors like asking to be referred to as Sir and Madam or bowing or giving them a respectful 'Namaskaram' whenever the junior pass them on the campus were all listed out to be followed in the following days.

One junior was asked to play cricket, and not in a team but all by himself. He had to be the bowler, the batsman, fielder and even the umpire and keep the score too.

Some others were asked to make animal sounds, act like cats and dogs reflecting their behaviour and body language. In the wake of this incident, members of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) went to the college.

Then they went to every classroom taking along with them posters that were made by the Hyderabad City Police last year against ragging.

The posters were circulated among all colleges then too, detailing the punishments that students caught doing ragging may face. The same posters were taken to each class and students were warned against ragging their juniors.

The freshers were told to feel free to complain either to their principal or to the police or any student organisation if they face ragging in or outside the college.

Principal S Satyanarayana, however, claimed no such incident came to his notice. Neither did students give any police complaint about it.

Yet, police were there on Thursday morning, picketing the college premises and ensuring no further instances of ragging occur.

Satyanarayana said he would conduct an anti-ragging seminar inviting top police personnel after August 15 by when all spot admissions would be over.

The NSUI, meanwhile, said it would go to all colleges in the city from Friday onwards spreading the anti-ragging message.

[ToI] Ragging leads to death

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HYDERABAD: Ragging raised its ugly head in the city on Monday, claiming the lives of two hotel management students in Vidyanagar.

Two students Sanoy and Sanjay Giri, both third year students of the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Durgabai Deshmukh colony near Osmania University, were allegedly stabbed to death by Naveen Kumar, a first year B.Sc. HHA student of the same institute, at their friends' flat at TRT Quarters in Vidyanagar at around 6.00 pm.

It all began with Sanoy and Giri (both aged around 20 years) noticing two juniors—Naveen Kumar and Nitesh Kumar— consuming liquor on the Shivam road. The duo approached their juniors and admonished them.

As the juniors fled from the place, Giri and Sanoy chased them into TRT Quarters where the juniors finally gave up. The seniors dragged them to their friends' flat in the colony.

Four third year students, K Mayank, Nitesh Kestwal, Himanshu and Nimesh, were staying in the room. The four were watching TV when Giri and Sanoy entered the room dragging the juniors, who were staying at the nearby Tapasvi hostel.

Though the seniors knew the two juniors, they were not sure about their names. Sanoy and Giri started quizzing them. The seniors reportedly asked them their parents' telephone numbers which reportedly infuriated Naveen.

As they were catering technology students, they had knives in their flat. Naveen grabbed a knife and started stabbing them.

"Naveen stabbed them mercilessly. I have never seen anything like this before. I pushed aside Naveen and ran to the rear side of the house," K Mayank, one of the four occupants of the room said.