Besu to suspend two students from hostel for ragging, accused fined

KOLKATA, 4 MARCH: The authorities of the Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) have decided to suspend two third-year students from its hostel for ragging a junior. A circular in this regard was issued today.

Guardians of these students will be summoned by the authorities to ask them about the whereabouts of their wards. An official of Besu said both the students and their guardians will be told that strict disciplinary action will be taken if any complaints are received in future.

The accused are students of the Electrical Engineering department. They will have to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each while seven others, who were found to be “partially involved”, have been asked to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 each. The students will have to pay the fines within 15 days, failing which they will be debarred from appearing in the semester examinations, slated to begin in April.

Around 20 days back, the father of a first-year student lodged a complaint of ragging against some seniors with the authorities. The committee that probed the complaint submitted its report on Wednesday. The committee found the complaint to be true and recommended action against the guilty.

According to the report, the incident occurred on 4 February during a cultural festival. The victim alleged that a group of seniors asked him to perform several acts. His refusal led to an altercation. The seniors had allegedly pushed the first-year student and the latter suffered bruises.


The cultural festival was immediately suspended and Vice-Chancellor Prof. Ajay Ray formed a committee with the head of the department, dean of students and teachers. The victim alleged that he was ragged by seniors, though the accused students denied the allegation. The Registrar of Besu, Mr Biman Bandopadhyay, said: “We have taken necessary action against the students who were involved in the incident.”