Ragging continues despite SC strictures

Ashish Tripathi, TNN 24 November 2009, 01:58am IST

LUCKNOW: Strict Supreme Court strictures and state government anti-ragging law making the act a cognizable offence has failed to deter seniors from ragging. In yet another incident of ragging, a first semester girl student of the bachelor of journalism and mass communication, was severely ragged for days and assaulted allegedly by two seniors when she reported the matter to college management. A senior who came to her rescue was also thrashed mercilessly. The management has expelled the two seniors from the hostel and has ordered an inquiry.

The victims are students of the Modern Girls College of Professional Studies (MGCPS), a private college affiliated to the Lucknow University. According to reports, the girl, Sadhana (name changed) was being ragged continuously by her two seniors -- one second year student of bachelor of computer science and the other a second year student of bachelor of business administration. The victim belongs to Moradabad and stays in the hostel. The seniors were also said to be residents of the same hostel. The duo used to barge into the room of the junior, talk to her in abusive language and force her to perform some obscene acts.

When the `torture' became unbearable, the victim lodged a complaint with the college administration on November 19. As the management started probing into the matter, the two seniors retaliated by assaulting the complainant. Another senior, also a student of bachelor of journalism and mass communication, was also beaten up when she came for the victim's rescue. The medical examination of Sadhana showed that she suffered serious head injury resulting in internal bleeding after her head was banged against the wall. The senior who came to her rescue has suffered limb injuries. Students told TOI that both the victims are still terrified.

When contacted, college director, Rajiv Tuli confirmed action against the two accused seniors. He said that the parents of the two seniors have also been informed about the misconduct of their wards. "We have issued show cause notices to the two accused seniors to give them an opportunity for defence in consonance with the principle of natural justice. Further action will be taken, which might include rustication from the college, after the inquiry is complete," he said. College authorities have also assured other freshers not to be afraid of seniors and report any matter related to ragging without hesitation.

Over a dozen cases of severe ragging have been reported in UP this year. At least two students committed suicide after being ragged brutally. The state government took a serious view of the fact and promulgated the Prevention of Ragging in Educational Institutions Ordinance, 2009, on October 14. The law has made ragging a cognizable offence and is applicable in all the higher education institutes, including professional colleges, both government and private, across the state. It includes Supreme Court's directions which make it mandatory for the institutions to lodge an FIR against accused, besides their expulsion.

* November 6, 2009: 28 students were expelled from Uday Pratap College in Varanasi for ragging their juniors and indulging in violence.

* October 31, 2009: Six students of a private dental college in Gorakhpur booked for allegedly ragging a junior by singeing him with cigarettes.

* October 29, 2009: Two students of a government-run polytechnic institute in Lakhimpur district were booked for ragging and beating juniors.

* September 17, 2009: Murder case lodged against seniors after a girl student of a private engineering college committed suicide due to ragging.

* September 15, 2009: Four engineering students of Benaras Hindu University booked for beating juniors and making them dance like male strippers.

* September 7, 2009: Nursing students complain of ragging in BHU, leading to action against seniors who ragged in the name of teaching `manners'.

* July 30, 2009: 10 students in Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, caught ragging fined Rs 50,000 and FIRs were lodged.

* July 28, 2009: 19 girl students fined for ragging freshers at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Study shows practice is far from being subdued

A study released in July showed that the ugly practice of ragging is far from being subdued in spite of Supreme Court directives. In one year, the country witnessed 88 cases of ragging of which 12 were fatal. Andhra Pradesh is the worst affected. Andhra Pradesh topped the list with 12 ragging cases, followed by West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh with ten each and Punjab eight. In the previous year, number of cases was 89 out of which 11 resulted in deaths and there were 5 attempted suicides.

Ragging reported from Alappuzha Medical College

Thursday, 19.11.2009, 01:53am (GMT)

Ambalappuzha: The first year students of Alappuzha Medical College have been ragged by the second years. The ragging was done on Monday night and Tuesday day time. It was done by the second year students who lingered about in the hostel, although their second year examination was over.
The incident came to light when a student’s face exposed marks of beating with hand on his cheek. Some students were forced to cut their hair. When the victims dared to report the matter to the authorities the college union intimidated them and forced them to settle the scores among themselves.
The anti-ragging squad in the college has also started its enquiry. The principal however said that she had not received any complaint so far.

Three engineering college students held for ragging

Hyderabad, Nov 17 (PTI) Three students of an engineering college were arrested for alleged ragging in college premises at Ibrahimpatnam on city's outskirts today, police said.

The trio, second-year students of B Tech at a private college, was taken into custody after one of the victims lodged a complaint with Ibrahimpatnam police, they said.

According to the complainant, six senior students used to demand money from five junior students for buying recharge vouchers for their mobile phones, a police officer told PTI.

"Demanding money the seniors allegedly beat their juniors on November 12," the officer said, adding they have arrested three students and were inquiring on the involvement of three others.

The arrested students were sent to judicial custody after being produced before a court, he said.

Three Andhra medicos get jail term for ragging juniors

TNN 13 November 2009, 03:53am IST

VIJAYAWADA: In a landmark, first-of-its-kind judgment in Andhra Pradesh, a Vijayawada court on Thursday sentenced three MBBS students to one-year imprisonment for ragging a junior student. The three are presently working as house surgeons at Siddartha Government Medical College's general hospital and in the last leg of their MBBS course.

First additional chief metropolitan magistrate K Satyanarayana said the prosecution had proved the charges against the three and slapped a Rs 1,000 fine each on them apart from the jail term. He, however, suspended the judgment for a month to enable them to move a higher court.

The three — Nella Venkata Chalapathi, Chittimalla Ramprasad and Mosham Suresh — had harassed a student, K Satish, on the college campus in July 2007. Suresh lodged a complaint against them on July 13, 2007. The police investigated the matter and filed a chargesheet under AP Prevention of Ragging Act (1997).

Cases of ragging against nine students

Erode (TN) Nov 12 (PTI) Cases of ragging have been filed against nine senior students of a private polytechnic college here and the principal of the institute for not taking any action against them.

Police said as per the direction of the Madras High Court, cases were registered yesterday against the students for ragging a junior from Kerala and against the principal of the college at Thookanaickkenpalayam for not taking action.

Abijith's father had filed a petition in the court a week back, stating that police had not taken any action against the students who ragged his son.

The court had instructed the Erode police to initiate action against the students and the principal.

Ragging: police file case against two students

Wednesday, 11.11.2009, 01:34am (GMT)

Thrissur: Two medical students have been charged with ragging as they were found guilty of ragging junior students of Amala Medical College. The case has been registered against MBBS students of 2005 Ajith Jose and Isham. These students have been suspended from the college.


They had ragged some junior students in the reading room of the college and outside. Later they misbehaved to them recently too. Following this the students who were being harassed complained to the principal. The principal referred the case to the police.

College girl leaps to death due to ragging

Hyderabad, Nov 5: Hardly before people could forget the tragic end of a woman boxer in the city,in another pathetic incident,a college girl jumped to death from her college building, allegedly due to ragging.

According to the police,Anusha,a II year degree student of the Villa Mary College in Somajiguda here has jumped from the III floor of the college building and died on the spot.

Her family members have alleged that Anusha was subjected to ragging by four students of the college and the college management has not taken any action against the miscreants despite several complaints. Anusha's mother said that the victim had told her about the harassment only on Thursday morning and she had assured her that she would come to the college and talk to the principal.Tears rolling down,she said that she had not expected her daughter to resort to this extreme step even before she could talk to the college authorities.

Immediately after the incident, the college management locked the gates and did not allow any media person inside.Anusha's body was sent to the Gandhi Hospital for postmortem.

Reacting to the bizarre incident, the authorities of the Board of Higher Education ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Anusha's relatives complained to the police that she told them that her classmates, Amruta, Iswarya, Nishita and Nikhita have been harassing her. Based on their complaint, the Punjagutta police said that they registered a case and started investigation into the allegation of the relatives.

Relatives are stating that Anusha was a sensitive girl. However, they said that they never thought that she would resort to the extreme step. When she complained about her classmates, they said that they thought it was a problem between friends and would subside by itself. The relatives said she stopped going to the college for some time and started again to go to the college only a few days ago. She has complained that the harassment has become more after that.

Meanwhile, the College authorities claimed that Anusha never complained of ragging or harassment to them.

28 students expelled for ragging juniors

Varanasi, Nov 6 (PTI) Twenty-eight students were expelled from a college here for ragging their juniors and indulging in violence in September.

The decision was taken by the anti-ragging committee of the Uday Pratap Autonomous college here.

Notices were served to the students yesterday asking them to take their transfer certificate from the college office by November 15, Gulab Singh, the spokesman of the college said.

Two of the students, who were charged with instigating the violence, Jang Bahadur Singh and Piyush Singh, have been expelled for life time while 13 students, who participated in violent incidents, have been expelled for two academic sessions- 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. He said 13 others were expelled for one semester.

On September 16, first year students were beaten by the seniors at their hostel for complaining against them.

The senior students also ransacked the hostel, damaged furniture and books.

Nine students suspended for ragging

Indore, Nov 5 (PTI) Nine BBA students of Devi Ahilya University in the city have been suspended for allegedly ragging their juniors, authorities said here today.

The students were suspended on charges of mentally harassing their juniors, Director of the varsity's Institute of Management Studies (IMS), P K Gupta said, adding all the nine students are enrolled in the BBA course.

The administration has ordered a inquiry into the incident by the Anti-Ragging Committee, which will submit its report within three days, he said.

Yet another student ragged in a city college

New Delhi, Nov 5 (PTI) Barely a few days after three students of a prominent college here were penalised in a ragging case, a first year BA student of another city college was allegedly ragged today by two of his seniors.

Mohammed Naved, 18, a resident of Ghaziabad was allegedly subjected to ragging when he was going to the rest room in Shyam Lal college, police said.

Though no FIR has been filed in this matter, Naved has informally complained to the police.

According to police, Naved was going to the rest room in the morning when accused Deepak Kumar and Mohammed Dilshad, both students of second-year BA, stopped him and beat him up.

Police are questioning the seniors on the issue.

This incident comes barely a few days after two students were expelled and another rusticated from Kirori Mal college for allegedly ragging a junior at the hostel.

Five booked for ragging

Lucknow, Nov 4 (IANS) Five students of a government-run polytechnic in Uttar Pradesh have been booked for ragging and torturing a junior, leading to his hospitalization, police said Wednesday.

Pawan Kumar, pursuing his first year civil engineering diploma from Rajkiya Polytechnic in Gorakhpur district, about 300 km from Lucknow, was assaulted by his seniors on the campus Tuesday.

A group of students directed Kumar to polish their shoes. They also told him to smoke a cigarette. Irked by his refusal, they assaulted him. Kumar suffered head and ear injuries, a police officer said.

“A case has been registered against five senior students,” police inspector R.K. Singh told reporters. “They are absconding.”

D.N. Singh, principal of the polytechnic, told IANS: “The issue is quite serious. We have initiated an enquiry. Strict action will be taken against the students. They might be even expelled.”

4 students suspended in ragging case

Puducherry, Nov 3 : Four students of the Vivekananda Government Higher Secondary School at Villianur near here were suspended today for allegedly ragging another student last week.

Sridhar (16), a plus-one student of the school, was undressed and ragged by a group of students on October 30. Later, he escaped the scene and informed his parents, who lodged a complaint with Public Health Minister A Namasivayam, who visited the school on that day.

The school authorities then informed the Minister that the disciplinary committee of the school would take appropriate action on the issue.

Accordingly, the committee identified four students involved in the ragging and suspended them. They were Manosundar, Srinivasan, Vikramadithan and Sredhar.

Further action would be initiated in consultation with the education department officials, School Vice Principal Ezhil told newspersons.

--UNI

Puri drowning: Kin cry foul

TNN 2 November 2009, 03:53am IST

KALYANI: The family of Arindam Haldar, who was washed away, along with two others, while bathing in the sea on Saturday, has cried foul, alleging that he was ragged by his seniors.

Arindam's brother, Aniruddha, went to Purbasthali police station in Nadia on Sunday to file an FIR on his brother's death, but police refused to lodge a complaint. "My elder brother was a victim of ragging. We went to lodge a complaint with the Purbasthali police, but they refused to receive it," Aniruddha said.

Aniruddha said that as his brother was afraid of water, it was unlikely that he had gone to bathe in the sea of is own will. "He was afraid even to take bath in a pond," Aniruddha said. "He was ragged and taken to the sea by force. It is a case of murder. He used to face ragging in his hostel occasionally and would inform us at home. But we are not rich enough to have afforded to shift him elsewhere to avoid ragging in the college hostel."

Kalyani Engineering College Principal K K Chakraborty said, however, that the college authorities had never received any complaint about ragging on campus. "Though the Puri trip was not arranged by the college, the authorities were aware of it. It is a common practice for students to go on a tour when they get leave for a few days," he said. About 100 students of the college hostel had gone to Puri on Thursday.

"The students left Puri on Sunday and will be back within 12 hours," Chakraborty said. "The three bodies are also being brought back to their respective homes. Our first priority now is to bring back the other boys safely to the hostel."

Six students booked for ragging in Uttar Pradesh

October 31st, 2009 - 1:05 pm ICT by IANS

Lucknow, Oct 31 (IANS) Six students of a private dental college in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district have been booked for allegedly ragging a junior by singeing him with cigarettes and hitting him with glass bottles, police said Saturday.


Amit Kumar, a first year BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery) student in the Poorvanchal Institute of Medical Science in Gorakhpur, about 300 km from here, has alleged that six of his seniors forced him to drink liquor and assaulted him when he protested and refused to follow their instructions.

“According to Kumar, the seniors used to barge inside his hostel room to abuse him physically. In the last few days, the seniors had become more violent,” police inspector Gajendra Kumar Rai told IANS.

A criminal case has been registered against the six under various sections of the Indian Penal Code after Kumar’s father approached police Friday evening, he added.

Kumar told police that he had approached the college authorities several times to register a complaint of ragging but was ignored.

“This brings the staff of the institute also under the scanner. While the six students are absconding, we may detain officials of the institute to probe into the case,” said Rai.

College director Tara Chand told reporters: “At our own level also, we have initiated an inquiry into the case. Strict action would be taken against the students involved in the incident.”

Two Uttar Pradesh polytechnic students complain of ragging

October 29th, 2009 - 5:53 pm ICT by IANS

Lucknow, Oct 29 (IANS) Two students of a government-run polytechnic institute in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur district Thursday alleged physical abuse and ragging by their seniors.


Vimal Singh and Surendra Prasad - both first year students of a diploma course in pharmacy from the Naurangabad-Rajapur Polytechnic in Lakhimpur, around 100 km from Lucknow, alleged that their seniors forced them to dance without clothes and beat them up when they protested.

“They (senior students) don’t rag us on the campus, but come to our private hostel rooms, where they physically abuse us and make us perform like a male stripper,” Singh told reporters in Lakhimpur, showing the injury marks on his arms.

“After barging into our room, the seniors also force us to smoke and drink liquor. They also pressurise us to do obscene dances,” he added.

In their complaint, the two students have alleged that their seniors forcibly take money from them and even use their mobile phones, clothes and other items.

“To days ago, three of my seniors forcibly took Rs.1,000 from my wallet kept inside the cupboard. When I protested, they started kicking me and threatened me of dire consequences if I told anybody about the incident,” said Prasad.

Officials at the institute have assured strict action against the culprits.

“I would only like to say that stern action would be taken against the senior students involved in the ragging,” the polytechnic’s principal Surendra Prasad told reporters.