Undeterred by the RULES

19 Sep 2008, 0547 hrs IST, TNN

BANGALORE: Chetan Swamy (18), a meritorious student from Shimoga, joined a Mysore medical college in September last year. Within a week of his stay at the college hostel, he moved to a paying guest accommodation . Soon after, he committed suicide by consuming sleeping tablets. It came to light a few days later that Chetan was traumatized by ragging at the hostel.

And just as we thought that ragging no more exists in the city's colleges and hostels due to stringent checks by authorities , Vivekananda Institute of Technology at Kumbalgodu is in the news for wrong reasons.

On Tuesday night, a few first semester students were allegedly ragged by their third semester seniors. The incident that began as a fresher's introductory session took an ugly turn when the juniors protested against some 'strange instructions' .

The seniors could not digest the refusal and allegedly beat them up. A brawl followed , injuring eight students who had to be hospitalized. The hostel warden and some other seniors even locked some up the freshers to stop the commotion, which in turn triggered panic among the students.

College acts tough Subsequently, on Thursday, the college management acted tough and sent 35 students to another hostel in Rajajinagar and asked over 150 students to write apology letters. Police patrolling has been sought by the college to avert such situations. However, some juniors alleged that the management did not support them and instead chose to settle the matter through a compromise .
The Thalaghattapura police had to intervene to prevent untoward incidents inside the hostel. Interestingly, the college management has dismissed the issue as a "small fight between juniors and seniors over meals in the hostel.'' A case was not registered despite the police being on the spot when the incident took place as the management insisted on not lodging a complaint . toiblr.reporter@timesgroup .co