Thirteen students of a private nursing college in Coimbatore were booked for allegedly ragging a first-year student in the college hostel. While four were arrested and eventually released on bail, another nine students accused in the same case are yet to be arrested.
The accused are second-year students at the PPG College of Nursing. The complainant, a 20-year-old first-year student from Panmana village of Kollam district in Kerala, reportedly said in his complaint that the senior students allegedly took him to their room in the hostel and ragged him for a long time, and even slapped him.
The complainant, who had been attending classes online so far, had reached his college in Saravanampatti, Coimbatore on September 20 as in-person classes resumed, the Times of India reported.
On Monday, 27 September, when he was alone in his room around 11 am, the accused second-year students studying in the same college allegedly entered his room and took him to their room, according to the complaint.
The senior students, who were from different parts of Kerala, allegedly ragged him and assaulted him when he was unable to pronounce their names, according to The New Indian Express.
The New Indian Express reported that according to the police, the complainant informed the college management but no action was taken.
The college principal denied inaction and told The New Indian Express they got to know of the incident on Thursday after the complainant approached the police.
According to Times of India, the complainant returned to his hometown after the incident and informed his parents, who encouraged him to lodge a police complaint. A complaint was registered at the Singanallur police station on Wednesday, 29 September.
The thirteen accused senior students were booked under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and Sections 3 (prohibition of ragging) and 4 (penalty for ragging) of The Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1997.
Four students – Rasim, Sanoof, Aswin Raj and Jidhu G Samuvel – were arrested and released on bail, while a search was still on as of Thursday to arrest the remaining nine students.
(The article was originally published in The News Minute and has been reposted with permission.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)