Naveen Kujur ragging: Case against SPA for negligence and tampering with evidence

SPA Director,Chetan Vaidya; Dean,Nilima Risbud and Registrar,C P Raghave have been charged under IPC Sections 336,337,338 (negligence),120B (conspiracy),201 (tampering with evidence),202,176 (failing to inform a public authority) and 511 (attempting to commit offence).

Additional Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Ajay Chaudhary confirmed that a case was registered under “multiple” sections.

Vaidya told Newsline that he was unaware of the FIR. “I have not heard about it. Nobody has officially communicated anything to us. So,I cannot comment upon the matter now,” he said.

Earlier,court had sought status report from police after Naveen’s legal representatives had filed an application under Section 156 of CrPC. In the status report,police told court that an FIR had been registered against the culprits — the senior students.

“However,the court asked them (police) to register a separate FIR against college authorities,” Naveen’s father,David Kujur,told Newsline.

Naveen’s lawyer Meera Patel said: “It is because of the recklessness of SPA that this incident happened. Moreover,they tried to cover up the incident by tampering with crucial evidence. A whole academic year of the victim was lost due to them. So,the legal course of action against them should be different.”

The SPA hostel warden,who was on the premises at the time of incident,was not named as an accused because he is an “honorary” warden and not a permanent one.

Terming the registration of the case as a “milestone” in their anti-ragging movement,Patel said it would set a “precedent” among all institutes of higher education.

Naveen,a first-year architecture at SPA,suffered knee damage after repeated night-long ragging sessions inside the institute hostel in New Friends Colony.

A resident of Jharkhand,Naveen joined SPA in 2012.