Dr. K. Ramesh Reddy, Director of Medical Education (DME), suspended 10 senior MBBS students on 11 September from Gandhi Medical College in Hyderabad for a period of one year for engaging in ragging at the men’s hostel. The perpetrators, five from each of the second and third years were ejected from the hostel on the same day.
The action was initiated in response to a communication from the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) anti-ragging cell on 8 September regarding an allegation from a group of first-year students which was received by Gandhi Medical College and the Telangana DME office. The victims had only recently begun attending the medical institution after their course had begun on 1 September.
He stated, “The anti-ragging committee has conducted an enquiry into the incident and found that 10 senior MBBS students were indulging in ragging juniors. All of the 10 students are suspended from the college for one year.”
The accused who admitted to the incident had called 30 freshers to their room at 2 in the morning and forced them to drink alcohol and smoke as well as take their clothes off. They were also made fun of and abused by the seniors. The new students had joined the institution only a week before and there was no animosity between the two sides.
The pupils revealed that they were summoned in two batches to the senior’s room. There were 10 students in one group while the other contained 20. Afterwards, obscenities were hurled at them and were asked to wear formal clothes throughout the day. They were also ordered not to enter the library.
Junior students brought up the issue with the anti-ragging cell of the University Grants Commission (UGC) immediately. It was reported that four students had complained. Dr. K. Ramesh Reddy declared that the investigation was completed and assured full support to the anti-ragging cell of the college.
The DME also sent a message to senior students at other government and private medical schools in Telangana and stressed that anyone found guilty of ragging would incur strict punishment in accordance with anti-ragging laws. He was quite clear that ragging would not be tolerated. Health authorities issued a clear warning a few days ago to a number of senior medical students that ragging will not be permitted at any medical college.
He mentioned, “In spite of telling very firmly that no ragging will be tolerated in any of the medical colleges, some senior students indulged in ragging 1st-year students in the Hostel of Gandhi Medical College in Secunderabad. A complaint was also sent by the UGC anti-ragging cell, New Delhi to take action.”
Most of the ragging was psychological and verbal which made the newcomers feel harassed and humiliated. A committee was established after receiving the UGC’s directive and discussions with the first-year students and the 10 seniors were held on multiple occasions. They were adjudicated liable for ragging.
The offenders received support from their batchmates who on 12 September organised a protest on campus. The authorities insisted that ragging, in any form, would not be condoned while the demonstrators claimed that proper procedures were not followed before the disciplinary action and demanded its annulment.
Dr. K. Ramesh Reddy who is also the principal of the medical college affirmed that the administration would not reverse its decision even if students staged a month-long demonstration to put pressure on them. Now, they want to speak with him to find out a solution.
Jadavpur University ragging case
In a shocking case at Jadavpur University a 17-year-old first-year student named Swapnodeep Kundu died after falling from the second floor of a hostel building on 9 August because he was being ragged by his fellow students. He kept repeating that he was not gay before his tragic demise.
According to the inquiry, he was “disrobed, bullied and abused with homosexual slurs.” He was forced to run naked from one room to another in the hostel facility before he fell to his death.
Police apprehended 13 people in relation to the unfortunate occurrence. All of them are either current or former Jadavpur University students. Twelve people, six present pupils and six graduates were captured on suspicion of murder and ragging while a graduate from the class of 2021 was nabbed on grounds of obstructing law enforcement from carrying out their duties.
Subenoy Chakraborty, dean of the science faculty at the institution and chairman of the 10-person committee probing into the student’s killing resigned from his position. Notably, cultivation of cannabis also came to the fore during the probe into the instance.
Several student and dormitory occupants’ cell phones were taken, according to police sources to gather electronic proof of ragging. The phones were sent for forensic analysis to try and recover any erased data, including chats. During the examination, a picture was discovered that raised the possibility of the JU campus’s cultivation of the prohibited narcotic.
