[Telegraph] Ragging forces student to quit

Link to report

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Agartala, June 1: Torture on a first year student has tarred the reputation of Agartala Medical College. A team of the Medical Council of India is scheduled to visit the college soon.

The landmark judgment by the Supreme Court banning ragging in schools and colleges was of little use for Arijit Sen, a first year student of the college, who had to discontinue his studies. His father Biswabandhu Sen, a senior Congress leader, took away his son’s belongings from the college hostel yesterday.

Sen, a resident of Dharmangar subdivisional town of North Tripura, said his son had been targeted by some second year students who often used to pressure him to bring money. “Even after he informed the principal, no action was taken,” Sen said.

After they came to know about the complaint in March this year, senior students Santanu Das, Benoy Debnath, Rajesh Nath and Niladri Debbarma dragged Arijit to a desolate place and asked him to kneel down. They then used safety pins to pierce his fingers. He was also kicked and beaten up. When Arijit lay unconscious, the four, identified by Arijit’s father, left the spot.

Ever since Arijit checked into room 118 in the new hostel building, he was bullied. “On the very first night, he was beaten up and the seniors demanded that he shell out money. On May 11, he was taken to the roof of a building under construction and again roughed up,” Sen said, adding that they then held him hanging down from a parapet and told that police would believe it to be a case of suicide if they dropped him.

Sen wrote a letter to the principal on May 15 saying his son would not be able to continue studies and took Arijit back home yesterday. He had also brought the matter to the notice of health minister Tapan Chakraborty.

Denying allegations of torture, principal Dilip Chandra Das said: “The boy has a psychological problem and we asked him to stay back.”

“His guardians have not given anything in writing,” Das said. He, however, said that he was taking action against the accused.