Mita Mukherjee

An FIR has been lodged against 18 students of a medical college in Tripura for forcing some juniors to shave their heads and asking girl students to propose to the seniors and sing songs to them a few days after the newly admitted students joined the college this month.

In addition to the police FIR, the authorities of Tripura Medical College imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh collective fine on the accused students. The students have also been suspended from hostels for one year and their mobiles will be monitored by the authorities for one year. The accused students will not be able to participate in any extra-curricular activities of the college and they will be under strict surveillance till the completion of the course.

According to Society Against Violence in Education, a NGO working to promote prevention of ragging, some junior students who had been ragged contacted the organization and lodged a complaint to it alleging almost the entire batch of newly admitted students, particularly the ST students had been subjected to ragging by some senior students. The senior students had allegedly threatened juniors to shave their heads and forced girl students to propose to their seniors and sing songs for them through WhatsApp.

After receiving the complaint, the NGO filed a complaint with the anti-ragging cell of the University Grants Commission and also informed the college and requested the authorities to take appropriate action against the accused students.

The college conducted an internal inquiry which revealed that the accused students had repeatedly humiliated, threatened and abused the juniors. The police complaint was lodged on October 25. The incident of ragging took place for a few days after the new batch joined the college on October 14, a source in the NGO said.

The diktat from the seniors to all the juniors to get their heads shaved was circulated through WhatsApp. One of the messages sent to the students showed a picture of a bald-head person with a note saying, “I want your hair like this same to same.”

“ It is worth mentioning that the mass head shaving has become a kind of ritual in ragging in medical colleges across India, with reports and pictures of hordes of heads shaven students appearing in the media every year,” a press release issued by the NGO on Sunday read.

The act showing victims showing sample pictures of how they were to get their heads shaved and instructing junior girl students to propose through WhatsApp is complete violation of women rights and liberty, the release said.

“The WhatsApp evidences helped the organization to expedite the process of investigation,” Kushal Banerjee, a spokesperson of the NGO told EducationWorld.

Rupesh Kumat Jha, the anti-ragging activist who led the investigation on behalf of the NGO said, “ This should serve as an example for the entire country. Mass human right violation can not be allowed in our educational institutions go unpunished.”

Another activist and Supreme Court advocate Meera Kaura Patel said, “ This is one of the biggest cases in which any college has given punishment to the culprits. In many such earlier cases, the college administrations in past have tried to cover-up the acts of ragging prevalent.”

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