Ragging victims attacked again by tormentors

KOLAGHAT: The night of June 15, 2009, came back to haunt Abhay Singh and Sharad Kumar, now second-year students at Kolaghat Engineering College, on Sunday night. A year ago, Abhay and Sharad were ragged, assaulted and had to spend days in the hospital.

A complaint was lodged with the police and the file has been gathering dust since then. On Sunday night, Abhay and Sharad were beaten up, allegedly by the same set of seniors, for not withdrawing the complaint. The college authorities have sought police protection, but no complaint has been filed against the attackers.

On Sunday night, Abhay and Sharad — students of electronics and communications — were in their hostel room, revising for their ongoing exams. Around 10 pm, a group of students — allegedly from the third year — barged in.

Abhay and Sharad were dragged out of their bed and abuses were hurled at them along with blows and kicks. "They (the attackers) kept on asking why the police complaint has not been withdrawn. Despite the complaint, neither the police nor the college authorities have taken any steps against them," said Abhay.

For the next half hour, Abhay and Sharad were at the mercy of the 25-odd youths who had forced into the room. Thirty minutes later, some of the duo's classmates mustered courage and raised an alarm, forcing the assaulters to flee. Late in the night, the students reported the incident to the college authorities.

On Monday morning, the college authorities met East Midnapore SP Ashok Biswas, requesting him for security at the hostel and college. "We will post a team at the hostel. No fresh complaint has been lodged by the students," Biswas said. Sharad said they were too scared to lodge a complaint. "Our exams are going on. There is no other way for us but to depend on the college authorities," Sharad said. The college authorities refused to comment.

Tamluk MP Subhendu Adhikary went to the college and met the aggrieved student. "The administration has to take steps to ensure that such incidents are not repeated," he said.