Junior students forced to booze, take drugs

Jan. 6: The police is investigating an alleged case of ragging in the Nehru College of Aeronautics and Applied Science where senior students assaulted two juniors and forced them to drink liquor and consume drugs. The victims of the ragging, Aswath Ashok, 18, and Bilal Mohammed, 18, both from Thiruvananthapuram, lodged a complaint with police commissioner C. Sylendra Babu on Wednesday.

The college, however, denied that any ragging had taken place but said two senior students, Neeraj Boudran and Jerin Raju, had been dismissed for ‘throwing a party’. Senior students of the college also forced the juniors to catch mosquitoes all through the night in their rooms as part of ragging, the police has learnt.

“The senior students took them away and assaulted and tortured them,” said a police officer. “They were forced to take liquor and drugs and catch mosquitoes.” The group of senior students, who called themselves the ‘Kovaiputhiran gang’, had also asked Ashok and Bilal to recharge their cellphones and buy cigarettes for them.

“After harassing them, the seniors warned them not to lodge any complaint,” the police officer said. Summoning up courage, Aswath and Bilal lodged a complaint with commissioner Babu on Wednesday. The police registered a case under section 323, 341 and 506(ii) and 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition Ragging Act 1997.

“Both the complainants and the accused have gone to their native place Kerala and will be questioned soon,” said a police officer.