[ToI] Student ragged, stripped in Bhopal hostel

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8 Oct 2007, 0235 hrs IST,TNN

BHOPAL: A shocking incident of ragging, coupled with an attempt at sexual assault, has been reported to the Madhya Pradesh police just two days after two first-year girl students of the Institute of Hotel Management in Bhopal were hospitalised following an alleged ragging session.

Engineering student Vishal Sharma has charged that his seniors beat him up, tonsured his head and shaved off his moustache on Friday night. They also apparently forced him to consume liquor with them, and made him dance for hours after stripping him - shockingly, they also tried to sexually assault him, according to the case filed.

Police registered a case of physical assault and hurt against the two senior who were involved in the act after the boy's father filed a complaint. One of the accused, Neeraj Kumar, was arrested on Sunday evening. Director of the institute Naeem Khan said eight senior students have been suspended.

The victim, a 19-year-old freshman of BE (Information Technology) at the Sree Institute of Science and Technology, is from Shivpuri district. He is the son of Congress leader in Gwalior-Chambal division Mahendra Sharma. Vishal, whose first semester started just 25 days ago, was staying at the reputed Utkarsh Students' Hostel in Lal Ghati area.

The hostel accommodates around 100 boys - 60 freshmen of the same engineering college, 20 seniors and 20 from other engineering colleges in Bhopal.

"From the beginning, they used to abuse and beat me up for no reason. When I told my father, he said it wouldn't last long. They would drink and force freshers to join them. But on Friday night, their torture crossed all limits," Vishal said.

Vishal said it was not just him but many other freshers too who were subjected to similar treatment. However, some students don't protest because their parents had spent a lot of money for their admission and they could not back out because of the ragging, he said.

Vishal added that two of his seniors - Kunal Chaudhary and Neeraj Kumar - had called him to their room on Saturday morning around 1 am. Traumatised Vishal now doesn’t want to go back to the same college and says he will not stay in a hostel again.