Probe panel report: ‘No ragging took place in Gulbarga college’

The police in Gulbarga (officially Kalaburgi), in north Karnataka, had arrested the trio — Lakshmi Pillai, Athira Reji and Krishnapriya — on charges of ragging first-year student K P Ashwathy, 18, on May 9.

Meanwhile, the local court adjourned bail haring of the trio for Thursday.

Even as three students of Gulbarga’s Al Qamar College of Nursing, arrested on charges of ragging a Dalit student from Kerala, moved a city court Wednesday for bail, an inquiry committee from the college’s parent university has, in its report, concluded that no ragging incident took place on the day concerned.

The police in Gulbarga (officially Kalaburgi), in north Karnataka, had arrested the trio — Lakshmi Pillai, Athira Reji and Krishnapriya — on charges of ragging first-year student K P Ashwathy, 18, on May 9. Ashwathy was allegedly force-fed toilet cleaner and was hospitalised. She was later sent to Kerala as her condition worsened. But the two-member inquiry committee of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), to which the nursing college is affiliated, has said in its report that no such incident took place. The committee has not taken the views of Ashwathy.

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Headed by Dr M R Chandrasekhar, Dean, ESI Medical College, Gulbarga, the RGUHS probe committee comprised Dr Imtiyaz-Ul-Haq, who is principal of Khaja Banda Nawaz Medical College. According to their report dated June 22 (The Indian Express possesses a copy of it), the two committee members spoke to principal Dr Esther, who said there was no ragging incident on May 9. The committee later spoke to vice-principal Bushra Sultana and got a similar response.

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According to the report, two girls’ hostel inmates, Maliwad Sejal Rambhai, a BSc Nursing first year student, and Manisha Parvin Singh, were also interviewed as part of the probe. “The girls said there was no ragging done in the hostel or college,” the report says. Committee member Dr Chandrasekhar said, “There was nothing much regarding the matter (of ragging). It is under investigation by the police now.”

Meanwhile, the local court adjourned bail haring of the trio for Thursday.

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