Four ISM students hurt in group clash

DHANBAD: Four second-year students of the Indian School of Mines (ISM) here were injured when they were attacked by final-year students near Topaz Hostel in the wee hours of Sunday. One of the students, who received serious head injury, has been admitted in the Central Hospital.

ISM registrar Col M K Singh has ruled out ragging as reason behind the attack on the juniors.

"It has got nothing to do with ragging," Singh told TOI here on Sunday. "The term is coming to an end. It cannot be because of ragging which generally takes place when the session starts. Ragging occurs during the adjustment' period," he added.

Singh claimed there was no mass participation of students in the incident. The university management has started an inquiry which would be parallel to the police investigation. He said the dean of students welfare and hostel warden have been asked to probe the incident and report to the director. As an adminstrative action, defaulter students may also be expelled, Singh added.

However, the parents of several students have contacted the ISM authorities for a compromise. The Saraidhela police visited Central Hospital where the injured were admitted and recorded their statements.

Police said although a complaint has been received in connection with the clash, no FIR has been registered. According to the police, a group of senior students had clashed with the juniors on Friday too. The juniors were preparing to formally register a complaint with the director. The seniors reassembled at around 11.30 pm on Saturday. At around 1.30 am they reached Topaz Hostel where the juniors stay andd attacked them. The juniors told police they were beaten by the seniors with with iron rods and spades. They also alleged that the seniors were in an inebriated state.

Sanjay Meena, a second-year electrical engineering student, who received serious head injury was rushed to the Central Hospital by the ISM security guards. Three other injured second-year students are Kalpesh Kumar, Saurabh Meena and Dilip Meena .

In their statement before police, they named about a dozen seniors who attacked them.