NIT ragging row takes T colour

March 12th, 2010

March 11: Accusing the management of National Institute of Technology (NIT) of harassing Telangana-based NITians for participating in the Telangana movement, Kakatiya University Joint Action Committee (KUJAC) and TRS activists led by ex-MLA Dasyam Vinay Bhaskar, staged a demonstration at NIT campus gate here on Thursday morning.

The protestors, who tried to break open the locked campus gate with huge stones, staged a road blockade for about two hours at 12 noon near NIT after NIT registrar C.S.P Rao reportedly made demeaning comments against Mr Vinay Bhaskar, who insisted on the registrar to apologise for his action.

According to sources, the agitation erupted after the NIT management registered a complaint against two 2nd year NITians for ragging three of their juniors at Kazipet police station on Wednesday night.

A. Sampath Kumar and K.V.V. Ram Kumar were booked for allegedly ragging their juniors B. Arun Kumar, Md Imran and P. Vinay Kumar.

Both the seniors, in this case, hailed from Mahbubnagar and Guntur respectively, while the first two junior students hailed from Mahbubnagar and the third from Chittor district respectively.

However, the agitators denied any incident of ragging taking place in the NIT campus.

“At the prime of the Telangana agitation in January, the NIT management had reprimanded students for taking part in rallies,” alleged a student on condition of anonymity, adding that the NIT management had even pressurised the junior students to register complaint of ragging against their seniors.

The student also alleged that the case was registered with a view to suppress the Telangana agitation and create division among Telangana students, who number about 1,000 strength in NIT campus.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mr A. Subash Chandra Bose, CI Subedari, said, “We have preliminary information about junior students being ragged by seniors in NIT for the past 10 days. We are investigating and looking at the case from all sides,” he said. The police are yet to make any arrests in this case.