Sunday, September 18, 2011

Panel to look into PU ragging

CHANDIGARH: Panjab University (PU) has constituted a four-member sub-committee to look into the ragging allegations levelled by the first-year student of chemical engineering department against a second-year student.

According to PU officials, father of the victim had sent an e-mail to the department chairperson on September 12.

Besides, a separate complaint against his senior Sushil Gupta was filed by the victim on the same day.

"This is one odd incident of ragging on PU campus, which has come to light after nearly three years. We would not take it leniently and taking cognizance of the complaint, the accused was suspended on the recommendations of the anti-corruption cell of chemical engineering department," dean university instructions B S Brar said.

"Following this, we have formed a sub-committee to look into this matter," said Brar. According to the complaint, the victim was residing in PU's hostel number-I and he had accused his senior (inmate of same hostel) of bullying him. The complaint said Gupta used to call the complainant to his room at odd hours and ask him to bring eatables from hostel canteen. PU authorities have sealed the room of Gupta.

However, there were reports that victim's father had sent another e-mail to the department chairperson on Thursday and withdrew the complaint. Chemical engineering department chairperson refused to comment.

Reality bites ragging boast

Patna, Sept. 15: The Patna College authorities had to eat crow today, as a first-year student was ragged on the college campus when they were trying to advertise the institution as a “no ragging, no eve-teasing” hub.

The ragging occurred when the college principal, Lal Keshwar Prasad Singh, was addressing a news meet at the seminar hall of the college disapproving the media reports on a few recent incidents of ragging and eve-teasing at the institution this session. The first-year boy, Nitish Kumar, was ragged in a classroom adjacent to the seminar hall.

A first-year geography (honours) student, Nitish was allegedly ragged by his seven seniors. Recalling the incident, Nitish said: “I was waiting for my history subsidiary class when three boys asked me to come out of the classroom.”

The trio allegedly dragged Nitish downstairs kicking him. A visibly shocked Nitish said: “I was dragged in front of the administrative block by my seniors. Four others joined them. They also started assaulting me.”

The seniors allegedly asked Nitish to do sit-ups and tried to open his trousers.

A few NCC cadets saw the ordeal of Nitish and ran towards him to free him from the clutches of his tormenters. Spotting the NCC cadets, the seniors fled leaving Nitish alone.

But that was not the end of Nitish’s suffering. After seniors bashed him up, his principal gave him a mouthful when he went to complain about his tormenters.

When Nitish reached the seminar hall with his fellow students, the principal of the Patna College was shocked to hear about the incident of ragging in front of the reporters. Singh first refused to listen to the boy.

He said: “Some students, mainly the boarders of Minto, Jackson and Iqbal hostels, are trying to malign the image of the college as the administration was dealing with the students involved in group clashes and eve-teas- ing strictly.”

Singh kept on saying that some students had planned the entire incident at a time when the college administration was holding a news meet.

In the meantime, the newly appointed proctor of Patna University Kriteshwar Prasad reached the college campus learning about the incident of ragging. Prasad assured the students of strict against those involved in ragging Nitish.

After the proctor stepped in, the college principal also changed his tune. He started assuring students of taking strict action against the accused.

The proctor asked Nitish to submit a written complaint against the students involved in the incident.

Prasad told The Telegraph: “I have asked the victim to give a written complain to the principal. At the same time, I have asked the principal to initiate a probe into the incident by the anti-ragging cell of the college.”

Police serves notice to college in ragging case

INDORE: Police have served a notice to the principal of IIST College to reveal names of students who were involved in ragging a junior, Sarthak William. Sarthak is admitted to Apollo Hospital here after receiving severe injuries due toe alleged ragging.

Rajendra Nagar police station Town Inspector Dilip Singh Chaudhary informed that a letter has been sent to the college authorities seeking names of all the students involved in ragging. If they did not reveal the names the concerned officials of the college were liable to be booked under relevant sections, he said.

According to the police a few senior students of IIST College allegedly beat up Sarthak for not obeying their orders. The incident took place on Wednesday evening. Moses Augustin William, the victim's father informed that a few seniors called his son for the reason known to them. The boy did not go to attend to them as one of his faculty members also called him at the same time. All this had happened at around 1.30 pm on Wednesday. The senior students turned furious and beat him up with hockey sticks. Sarthak sustained injuries and was admitted to the hospital.

Sarthak had joined the college a few months ago and was in the first semester of engineering course. Before being beaten up by the seniors he had complained about their misbehaviour, said his father adding that he did not anticipate that the issue would turn so serious. He lodged his complaint with Rajendra Nagar police station about the ragging. Subsequently, police have registered case against Neon Sheikh, Devendra and three others under section 341,323, 294, 506 and 34 of IPC. Efforts to contact the college officials, however, proved futile. The police too have not been able to contact the principal of the college.

Boy sustains serious leg fractures, injuries during ragging

Seniors booked for ragging in Uttar Pradesh, one held

Lucknow, Sep 13 (IANS) Two students of an Uttar Pradesh government university in Meerut district have been booked for physically abusing and ragging their junior on the campus, police said Tuesday. One of them has been arrested.

Sandeep Bhadana and Deepak Kumar — final year MBA students of Chaudhary Charan Singh Meerut University (CCSMU) — brutally assaulted Brijesh Ram, a first year Dalit student Monday after he refused to perform obscene acts.

‘Sandeep and Deepak assaulted the junior student with leather belts. They repeatedly punched and kicked him, following which he fainted and was rushed to a hospital,’ police inspector Mahaveer Prasad told reporters in Meerut, 450 km from Lucknow.
‘A case against Sandeep and Deepak was registered late Monday when the injured student approached us,’ he added.

While police Tuesday managed to nab Deepak, they have sought assistance from the varsity authorities to trace Sandeep.

Tortuous train escape after ‘ragging’

Sept. 10: A first-year engineering student escaped with two classmates after being allegedly ragged at his Nadia college last night, and changed trains twice in a zigzag journey prompted by panic before passing out.

The unconscious Yasser Arafat Mollah, 18, whose rail trip took him across three districts but not his home district of Burdwan, was rescued by his brother from a train in Bandel station in Hooghly and admitted to hospital in Burdwan.

Arafat, a computer engineering student at the Bipradas Pal Chaudhuri Institute of Technology in Krishnagar, said he had scaled the four-foot-high college wall around 9pm with two of his friends and fled, “unable to bear the ragging by seniors”.

“After a freshers’ welcome party last night, some second-year students came to my dormitory and ordered me to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes. I started feeling sick after puffing two and pleaded that I could not smoke any more. They then ordered me to drink alcohol,” Arafat, a resident of Galsi, Burdwan, said.

“They kicked and punched me and forced me to sniff some powder off a piece of paper while one of the seniors held a lighted matchstick below it. I suspect it was some kind of drug. I managed to break free and ran out of the hostel. Outside, I met two of my batch-mates who too had been ragged.”

Arafat’s elder brother Yasser Jiafat Mollah, who studies zoology at a college in Burdwan’s Raina, said: “I received a call from Arafat around 9 last night. He was crying. I asked him to flee the college immediately and try to reach Burdwan station.”

Arafat said that after scaling the boundary wall, he and his friends took an auto-rickshaw to the railway station.

“One of my friends, who is from Katwa, boarded a local train that stops close to his home. The other friend and I were so scared that we boarded the first train we saw. It was a Lalgola-Ranaghat local. The friend got off at Ranaghat as he lives there and so did I,” he said.

“I then boarded the Sealdah-bound Krishnagar local. I got off at Naihati (North-24 Parganas). It was past 11pm and so I again boarded the first train that came — I was too scared to think clearly. The train was heading towards Bandel. I called my brother and told him to come to Bandel. Then I lost consciousness,” Arafat said.

Jiafat, who stays in his college hostel as his home is 55km away, borrowed some money from friends and hired a taxi to reach Burdwan station.

“I took a train to Bandel. When a train arrived at 12.35pm, I searched the coaches and found my brother lying unconscious in one. Some of the passengers told me the train would go to Burdwan,” Jiafat said. He admitted Arafat to Burdwan Medical College Hospital, where the patient was put on saline drip and given medicines.

Gadadhar Mitra, the hospital superintendent, said tonight: “The boy is in a state of shock. When he came here, he was nervous and shaky. We discharged him this evening and asked his family to consult a psychiatrist, if needed.”

Arafat alleged the seniors had been ragging him since the session started on August 23. “They forced me to climb the college stairs on my knees. They made me run in the rain one day and then forced me to sit under a fan for hours.”

His father Yasin Mollah, a medicine shop owner, called up college principal Dilip Banik and lodged a verbal complaint. Banik said he had informed the police.

“We are investigating the matter. We will send a team to Burdwan to speak to the student,” an officer said.

Banik said the college’s anti-ragging committee met this afternoon and decided to send two of its members to Burdwan with the police team.

Student thrashed by colleagues at private college

POSTED ON 10TH SEPTEMBER 2011

Greater Noida, Sep 10 (IANS) A second year B.Tech student was thrashed and injured and his cousin allegedly ragged by two students of a private college in Greater Noida, police said Saturday.
Tej Pratap Singh, B.Tech second year student of Sharda University, was thrashed by two students of the same college Friday. He was admitted to hospital with injuries.
He was beaten up by the two students when he intervened in the ragging of his cousin Rahul Singh, studying in first year B.Sc (Mass Communication).
On his complaint, a case was registered for voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means at Kasna police station.
Senior Superintendent of Police Jyoti Narain said: ‘We have registered a case and are investigating the matter. The two students are absconding. We are making efforts to arrest them.’
Tej Pratap and his cousin Rahul stay with their families in Greater Noida. The families of the two hail from Jalaun district in Uttar Pradesh.

3 students held for ragging juniors

Hyderabad | Updated Sep 12, 2011 at 10:00am IST

HYDERABAD: Punjagutta police arrested three engineering students of Muffakham Jah College involved in ragging juniors. The seniors also reportedly beaten up the juniors.

According to police, three students, Shreyas (second year), Rakshith (fourth year) and Aditya Yadav (third year), all studying Bachelor of Engineering in Muffakham Jah College at Banjara Hills ragged their juniors around 4.35 p.m on Friday. The senior students invited some juniors, all studying first-year BE, to a nearby coffee shop and started teasing them, police said.

The seniors also invited a few girl students. As soon as the juniors reached the coffee shop, the trio started teasing them asking vulgar questions. “When the juniors did not answer their queries, the trio beat them up,” police said.
One of the junior students lodged a complaint with Punjagutta police.

Based on the complaint lodged by Prudhur Dev, a resident of Saroornagar, Punjagutta police arrested the three students and registered a ragging case on them.

Ragging victim falls from 4th floor, dies of injuries at SMS Hospital

TNN Sep 10, 2011, 03.15am IST

JAIPUR: A 19-year-old girl was allegedly ragged by her seniors at a private engineering college at Bhankrota here. This caused her to fall from the fourth floor of her college hostel and she died in SMS Hospital on Thursday night. Her father has lodged an FIR alleging the college authorities were attempting to hush up the matter. However, the police claimed they were waiting the postmortem report.

A resident of Patna, Somya Singh was a first year B-Tech student at the Rajasthan College of Engineering for Women, Bhankrota on Jaipur-Ajmer Highway in Jaipur district.

"Her father, Mithilesh Kumar Singh, has lodged an FIR saying two senior girls had forced her to walk on the fourth floor railing of her hostel twice within three days. Singh claimed that his daughter fell during the second attempt," said Sharad Kaviraj, DCP (West).

However, chief hostel warden Shalini Jain claimed no family member had complained about the ragging in the past. "No ragging took place in the hostel," she added.

As per the FIR, two senior girls barged into her hostel room on September 3 and said she would be ragged as she was a new student. Somya had joined the college on August 26.

"She was made to walk on the railing by the seniors. She got scared and called up her aunt and brother living in Jaipur and the father who lives in Patna. Somya also informed the hostel warden Manju, her younger sister Tulika, brother Sushil and a senior girl of the college Tapsi," the FIR says.

The FIR further says her aunt came to the hostel on September 4 and tried to contact Manju, but she was told that she is on leave. "The aunt then complained to someone about the ragging," the FIR states.

It has also been alleged in the FIR that the two unidentified senior girls again came to the hostel room on September 6 and made her walk on the railing. This time she fell and lay on the ground for half an hour.

The girl's father Mithilesh Singh told TOI that while her injured daughter was rushed to the hospital, a college teacher threatened Somya's sister Tulika and told her not to complain about ragging.

"Tulika was threatened that she and her sister will study in the college for four years suggesting that their future will be ruined," the father alleged.

DCP Sharad Kaviraj said, "A postmortem has been conducted and the report is expected on Saturday."

Family members alleged that in the past three days since Somya fell from the fourth floor of the hostel, police have neither done any investigation nor record statements of the college authorities concerned.

Two students suspended for ragging

MANGALORE: Two students of Bachelor of Hospitality Science (BHS) of Alva's College at Moodabidri have been suspended from the college after they were found guilty of ragging by the authorities on Wednesday.

The students are Praveen D and Jeevan Shetty. The incident had occurred on August 24 wherein the two students and others had wrongfully confined Priya, a BHS student at Room No. 218 of the college and allegedly outraged the modesty of her by pulling her dress and also assaulted her by hand owing to trivial issue.

The police have registered a case of rioting, outraging the modesty of women, wrongful confinement along with hurt against the two and five others.

Dr Mohan Alva, chairman of the institution, said that as soon as he came to know of the incident, he conducted an inquiry and has suspended the students. The decision will be sent to the university on Thursday,'' he added.

Dr Alva rued that though the incident had occurred last month, it was brought to his notice a couple of days back. The accused students were not willing to admit their wrong doing and I complained to the police,'' he said adding that such incidents will not be tolerated by the institution, whoever the student might be.

He said action will be taken against other students who were involved in ragging after they have been identified by the police.

Students' harassment is not ragging in Allahabad University?

Rajiv Mani, TNN Sep 1, 2011, 10.29pm IST

ALLAHABAD: Despite authorities of the Allahabad University making tall claims about checking the ragging menace, inmates of the S Radhakrishanan hostel of AU have been reportedly harassed by the senior inmates of G N Jha hostel in the midnight of Tuesday .

Although the varsity authorities claim it to be an 'act of indiscipline' among the inmates of two hostels, it is not the first time that the inmates of this hostel have fallen prey to the harassment by the seniors of other hostels located in its vicinity.

Narrating their woes to TOI the inmates of Radhakrishanan hostel, a hostel which has recently been constructed and is meant specifically for the students pursuing professional courses at AU with most of them being the students of JK Institute, said that it was the midnight of Tuesday (around 3.00 am) when some youths entered room number 31 of the first floor of the hostel allotted to a student of J K Institute. The youths, who claimed themselves to be the inmates of G N Jha hostel, forced the said inmate to open the room and after entering it, they locked it from inside. The two were in an intoxicated state and after abusing the said inmate, searched the entire room for eatables. They also slapped the inmate and snatched his laptop. The intruders asked the harassed inmate to come to room number 111 and 113 of G N Jha hostel to get back the laptop.

Meanwhile, on getting the news of some outsiders entering the hostel, the guard of the hostel locked the main channel. When these youths found the channel locked, they returned the laptop and forced the inmate of room number 2 to open the door and since the balcony of the said room opened on the road outside the hostel, they managed to escape from there.

Wednesday being a holiday on the occasion of Eid, inmates of S Radhakrishanan hostel apprised the varsity officials on Thursday. "This is not the first time that we have been harassed by the seniors of other hostels who openly threaten us of dire consequences as we are new at AU," said the agitated inmates who reported the matter to the chief proctor Prof Jata Shankar and the dean students welfare (DSW), Prof R K Singh.

"Last year too, on the occasion of Janmashtami, senior inmates of PCB hostel, located a stone throw distance from S Radhakrishanan hostel came late in the night and asked the inmates to gather in five minutes. When some of us arrived few minutes late, they were abused and asked to perform the act of cock," the inmates alleged. Although the authorities were apprised of the said misbehave by the seniors none took action, they added.

Meanwhile, another case of fight, which occurred on Wednesday night, was reported among the inmates of S Radhakrishanan hostel. The fight took place between the inmates, studying in various semester of J K Institute and that of Law five year course.

Commenting on the issue the chief proctor, Jata Shankar, said, "The inmates of the hostel had informed me of the fight amongst the Radhakrishanan hostel and I would be looking into the matter. However, they wanted me to give another complaint, but I asked them to get it forwarded by the superintendent. But the matter, pertaining to inmates of G N Jha hostel does not come under the ambit of ragging because the inmate who was harassed was not a fresher."

As per the observations of the committee of UGC towards measures to curb the menace of ragging in educational institutions mentions, any act that prevents, disrupts or disturbs the regular academic activity of a student should be considered within the academics related aspect of ragging. Likewise, any act of financial extortion, physical abuse including all variants of it, any act or abuse by spoken words, public insults should be considered within the psychological aspects of ragging. Similarly, any act that affects the mental health and self-confidence of students also can be described in terms of the psychological aspect of ragging.

Despite crackdown, ragging continues in Chennai colleges

Arun Janardhanan, TNN Aug 31, 2011, 07.19am IST

MUMBAI: From forbidding juniors from wearing branded clothes to forcing them to travel unreserved when they go home, senior students have devised many ways of bullying first year students.

Despite the stringent measures adopted by the government and colleges, ragging continues in many private institutions. Often, the practice crosses the line of mere ragging and takes the form of bullying and even violence.

A second year engineering student in a leading professional college said juniors were not allowed to interact with classmates, especially of the opposite sex, on campus or outside. "We cannot go to shopping malls or cinemas during the first year. The seniors enforce these rules strictly and ensure that we are put to maximum pain during the first year," said a first year mechanical engineering student.

Even in cases where bullying crosses the limits of endurance, most students remain silent because they have paid huge amounts as capitation and course fees. "I have paid more than 1.5 lakh as the annual fees. So I can't go back to my parents complaining of ragging," said a student from an engineering college near Old Mahabalipuram Road.

Students say the money their parents send them has to be handed over to seniors. "None of us is allowed to keep any money after paying hostel fees," said a student.

SS Rao, registrar of Sathyabhama College, said they were following the government norms to curb ragging. "We have an active antiragging squad. We maintain a system of secret squads and informers among students to identify the culprits," he said.

A senior higher education official said they are closely monitoring all the colleges. State higher education minister P Palaniappan recently said that the government is considering the feasibility of setting up a state-level helpline to take complaints directly from ragging victims, in line with the national help desk of the University Grants Commission.

Boy goes missing

Aug. 30: A Class VIII student of Navodaya Vidyalaya, Raj Hansa, 13, went missing after he left his residence at Kalibari without informing his parents last evening. His father, Surendra Nath Hansa, lodged a report at Latasil police station today. Police said a suicide note found in the boy’s room read that he could not bear the ragging by his seniors in the hostel and had decided to end his life.

Freshers attacked for resisting ‘ragging’

Posted: Wed Aug 31 2011, 04:05 hrs

Two first-year commerce students of Shri Ram College in Muzaffarnagar district were attacked by a group of seniors after they allegedly objected to ragging on Tuesday. The victims, who suffered serious injuries, were admitted to a private hospital in the city.

Muzaffarnagar SP (City) KB Singh said the police visited the college on getting information about the incident and sent the victims for medical examination, but the boys had not yet lodged a complaint. D L Sudhir, SHO of Nai Mandi police station, said the college authorities were trying to settle the matter without involving the police.

No one from the college administration was available for comments despite several attempts. Contacted in hospital, Pervez, one of the victims, said he and his classmate Badal Deshwal were coming out of college after attending classes when Ankit and Nitin of BBA-II year stopped them near the parking lot along with 10 others.

The group first questioned Pervez and Badal about their background and then allegedly asked them to take off their shirts. When they refused, both allegedly were kicked and beaten.

After the group went away, some freshers took the victims to hospital and informed their parents.

The SHO said the college administration was holding a meeting with the parents of the freshers and senior students.

College principal Prerna Mittal denied any ragging incident. “There was a fight which was a sequel to an altercation between the students yesterday. I asked the boys about the reason, but they remained tight-lipped,” she said. Mittal said parents from both sides had settled the issue and requested her not to initiate any action against the erring boys.

Seniors shoot at junior for protesting ragging

A junior college student was allegedly shot at by his seniors in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district after he opposed the ragging of a batchmate, police said Tuesday.
Rudraksh Kumar, a first semester law student of the Dewan Institute was Monday shot at by several third year students of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) for opposing the ragging of a girl student.

"Acting on the complaint of Rudraksh, we late Monday registered a case against the three BBA students - Anuj Kumar, Anubhav Kaushik and Ajay Sangwan," Police Inspector B.D. Pushkar told reporters in Meerut, some 450 km from here.

While Rudraksh is being treated at a hospital, the accused are absconding.
Rudraksh received bullet injuries but is now stated to be out of danger, said Pushkar.

MBBS student found hanging, ragging blamed

Mahalingam Ponnusamy, TNN Aug 29, 2011, 04.47am IST

CHENNAI: A first-year MBBS student from Tagore Medical College was found hanging from a tree near Thalambur in Kanchipuram district on Saturday. His parents said he might have committed suicide because he was ragged by his seniors.

The police said 19-year-old S Naveen from Salem district joined the college in July. Naveen stayed with two senior students in the hostel. He often had arguments with them, the police said. He was reported missing from the hostel around 5am on August 25. The warden filed a complaint in the Thalambur police station. On Saturday, the police found him hanging from a tree beside a lake near Ponnmar around 7pm.

His parents say Navin was being ragged by his seniors. "He was a brilliant student. We strongly believe that he committed suicide because he was ragged. He complained to us many times that his seniors have been ragging him," said his father M Selvaraj.

Madhuris parents suspect foul play

Andhra Pradesh | Posted on Aug 28, 2011 at 09:45am IST

WARANGAL: Parents of Madhuri, a second year ECE student of NIT, who committed suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of her hostel within 20 days of her admission in the college, are suspecting foul play in her death.

Speaking to media at the mortuary where the body's autopsy was conducted, Madhuri's father M Mohan Rao, a scientist in Visakhapatnam's Novel's Science & Technology Engineering department, said "I wanted her to study engineering and excel in her career." He was still in shock.

Madhuri is the eldest daughter of Mohan Rao and Surekha who are residents of Srinagar colony in Vizag.

Their younger daughter is an SSC student. Rao rushed to Warangal as soon as he of his daughter's death. The police however, ruled out ragging as the cause of her death.

Also, the girl's father did not express his doubts directly with the police. All angles are being probed, according to DSP Venkata Narasayya.

Police suspect that depression could have led the girl to commit suicide.
Madhuri cleared AIEEE and joined NIT on July 28. The college management has remained silent about the issue.

Students boycotted classes and paid floral tributes to Madhuri. NIT convocation scheduled to be held on Saturday was held back till 6 pm, following the incident. The programme resumed later.

10-yr-olds ragged in Mumbai

Published: Saturday, Aug 27, 2011, 8:00 IST

In a shocking case of ragging, Ayush Shelar and Aditya Kokane, studying in standard V at RM Bhatt High School, Parel, allegedly they were forcefully injected with a syringe by some students from class XII in the school toilet three days ago.

However, the school principal maintained that the seniors were only teasing the children. A senior police inspector, said, “We will only be able to take action once it is proved that they were really injected.’’

The incident allegedly took place on Wednesday when the boys had gone to use the toilet. “‘Two girls suddenly grabbed our legs so that we could not escape. One boy brought out a syringe and filled it with some liquid. We felt a prick as they injected us. Another senior came into the toilet and asked them to stop,’’ said Shelar.