Ragging victims attacked again by tormentors

KOLAGHAT: The night of June 15, 2009, came back to haunt Abhay Singh and Sharad Kumar, now second-year students at Kolaghat Engineering College, on Sunday night. A year ago, Abhay and Sharad were ragged, assaulted and had to spend days in the hospital.

A complaint was lodged with the police and the file has been gathering dust since then. On Sunday night, Abhay and Sharad were beaten up, allegedly by the same set of seniors, for not withdrawing the complaint. The college authorities have sought police protection, but no complaint has been filed against the attackers.

On Sunday night, Abhay and Sharad — students of electronics and communications — were in their hostel room, revising for their ongoing exams. Around 10 pm, a group of students — allegedly from the third year — barged in.

Abhay and Sharad were dragged out of their bed and abuses were hurled at them along with blows and kicks. "They (the attackers) kept on asking why the police complaint has not been withdrawn. Despite the complaint, neither the police nor the college authorities have taken any steps against them," said Abhay.

For the next half hour, Abhay and Sharad were at the mercy of the 25-odd youths who had forced into the room. Thirty minutes later, some of the duo's classmates mustered courage and raised an alarm, forcing the assaulters to flee. Late in the night, the students reported the incident to the college authorities.

On Monday morning, the college authorities met East Midnapore SP Ashok Biswas, requesting him for security at the hostel and college. "We will post a team at the hostel. No fresh complaint has been lodged by the students," Biswas said. Sharad said they were too scared to lodge a complaint. "Our exams are going on. There is no other way for us but to depend on the college authorities," Sharad said. The college authorities refused to comment.

Tamluk MP Subhendu Adhikary went to the college and met the aggrieved student. "The administration has to take steps to ensure that such incidents are not repeated," he said.

Mystery shrouds BJ college medical student's suicide bid

Dayanand Meitei / DNA/Saturday, June 12, 2010 8:55 IST

Ahmedabad: Was it the ragging in the hostel that prompted the BJ medical college student to want to take her life? Or was it instead, the supposed embarrassment of having been caught stealing, that drove her to slit both her wrists, at her residence at Limbdi on Thursday night?

The reasons behind the second year MBBS student from BJ attempting suicide remain unclear. While the NSUI and the girl's parents cite ragging as the reason, college officials are saying the girl is a kleptomaniac.

When DNA contacted NSUI students, they claimed the institute's version to be completely false. State NSUI vice-president Bhavin Sinh Rathod said, "Our representatives got in touch with the girl and her parents, and found out that the institute wanted to suppress the girl's complaint of ragging against her seniors. They even forced the girl to remain mum and not reveal the matter to anyone. The depression led her to take the extreme step of attempting suicide."

According to reliable sources, the girl's parents, in their testimonial to the police, have stated harassment by the institute as the reason behind their daughter's attempt to kill herself.

As a protest against the institute, NSUI student members carried out a demonstration at the BJ Medical College's main office at around 2 pm on Friday, ransacking the premises and breaking chairs, glasses and computers.

However, officials of the BJ medical college denied any possible ragging. The college's dean Bharat Shah said, "The incident today was triggered by a wrong media report which claimed that the girl attempted suicide because of ragging."

Alleging that the girl suffered from kleptomania, Shah said, "On May 26, around 40 students complained that the girl has been continuously stealing things from the others in the hostel. When the hostel committee searched her room, they found the stolen clothes, mobile phones and ATM cards."

Shah added that following the incident, the girl's parents were summoned to the institute, and they confessed in writing about the stealing. "They volunteered to vacate the hostel themselves, though we didn't ask them to leave", he said, adding, "The incident has nothing to do with ragging at all."

As for the girl, after initial treatment at a local hospital in Limbdi, she was shifted to the Ahmedabad civil hospital.

Haryana varsity suspends three students for ragging

June 2nd, 2010 - 12:38 am ICT by IANS -

(Haryana), June 1 (IANS) Three MBA students were Tuesday suspended by the vice-chancellor of the Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here for ragging their juniors, officials said.
The three students - Aman Redhu, Surender Bishnoi and Anil Dalal - were accused of physically harassing and intimidating two junior students of the Institute of Management Studies and Research (IMSR) here.

“Such acts are totally intolerable in our institutions and strict action will be taken against the errant students. We have suspended the students with immediate effect and started a probe into the matter,” said MDU vice-chancellor R.P. Hooda.

“We have banned their entry into the varsity campus till further orders. The hostel rooms of the accused have been sealed by the authorities concerned and we have withheld the results of their last examination,” he added.

Student's eye damaged in alleged ragging-related attack

A student from Changanassery has reported loss of sight in his right eye in an alleged ragging-related attack in an engineering college in Tirunelveli.

Addressing presspersons at the Ernakulam Press Club on Thursday, the victim, a second-year student of National College of Engineering, Maruthakulam, said the senior students from Kerala hit his face with a metal piece at the college hostel on March 19. “They dragged me to the verandah and continued to kick and slap me. By that time, my eyes began to bleed and the college authorities sent me to an eye hospital,” he said.

He said the seniors assaulted him again when he returned to college, despite the intervention of some other senior students and teachers. They threatened to seek the assistance of local anti-social elements against him and made him sign some papers. By April 2, the vision in his right eye was lost. A surgery at a Kochi hospital could restore only 10 per cent of the vision. The doctors said the damage would be permanent.

He said that when his father called up the college principal demanding action against the culprits, the latter ridiculed him and alleged that the father and son were trying to make money out of the incident.

He said the seniors indulging in ragging had been emboldened by the college management's alleged inaction.

His mother said the college was refusing to take action, despite a complaint being sent to the management trust's Dubai office, the police and other authorities. “We paid over Rs.4 lakh in fees and had to spend Rs.2 lakh on my only son's eye treatment. Now, his future is at stake since he may have to discontinue studies,” she said.

Ankle broken for rag charge

Behrampore, April 30: Students who had signed a pledge never to indulge in ragging again thrashed a first-year student of a Murshidabad polytechnic last evening because he had complained to the authorities against them.

Imran Ali Beg, 20, who bled from a cut below his left eye and had a fractured ankle and bruises all over his body, lodged an FIR with police before being admitted to Behrampore General Hospital.

Nefaur Rahman, the surgeon who treated Imran, said: “He was given two stitches under his eye. He has bruises all over his body. An X-ray has revealed a crack in his right ankle. He has to be in hospital for a few more days.”

Imran had come to the privately run Nibedita Institute of Technology in Jalangi from Diamond Harbour in South 24-Parganas — over 250km away — for a diploma in electronics and communications. He was worried today that his heart patient father could be taken ill if told about his condition.

The college has suspended the five accused for a year.

Imran’s classmate Kishore Bawale said the second-year students had been ragging them since they joined last August. The college being only two years old, the second-year students are the senior-most.

“We are mentally tortured and humiliated. We are made to stand holding our ears, do squats and bow our heads every time seniors walk past. They also hurl abuses at us,” said Kishore, who was with Imran and six others when they lodged the complaint in March. “But the anti-ragging committee did not take any action against them,” alleged Kishore.

The college said the committee had conducted a probe in March and summoned the five accused. “They confessed to ragging and apologised. They also gave written undertakings saying they would never indulge in ragging. That’s why the panel let them go,” said Gautam Sarkar, secretary of the college managing committee.

The committee met again yesterday, said principal Satyanarayan Bag. “We have suspended the five and we will help the police probe,” he added

Imran had gone to a tea st-all outside the campus when the five dragged him away. “They hit me with sticks and soft drinks bottles. After about 15 minutes, they went away. I limped to the stall and its owner helped me reach my hostel.”

Student injured in ragging in Uttar Pradesh college

Lucknow, April 24 (IANS) An engineering student in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district suffered multiple injuries after he was allegedly ragged by his seniors, police said Saturday.

According to police, Manjeet Singh, a first year student, was taken to hospital after three seniors assaulted him with a blunt object Saturday afternoon.

“The student is out of danger. He has alleged that three seniors started beating him when he refused to obey their orders of introducing himself to a group of seniors,” Sub Inspector S.P. Chaudhary told reporters.

Moradabad is 350 km from Lucknow. “A case has been registered against the three seniors,” he added.

The victim also accused the college’s private guards of not intervening. College Proctor B.K. Singh told reporters: “We are yet to ascertain whether it is a case of ragging. We have initiated an enquiry.”

PGIMER doctor found dead, family cries foul

Chandigarh, Apr 19 (PTI) A resident doctor of the prestigious PGIMER here was found dead in his hostel compound under mysterious circumstances today with his parents alleging that he died due to ragging.

The body of 25-year old Nagedra AV hailing from Bangalore was found in the compound of the hostel in which he was residing, police said.

Nagendra had joined the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research here about two months back and was working with blood transfusion medicine deparmtment of the institute.

Though police suspect it to be a case of suicide, the parents of the doctor alleged that their son died due to ragging.

A Reddy, father of the deceased, alleged that only yesterday he had received a call from his son that he was finding it difficult to continue in the institute due to ragging.