Aman Kachroo ragging: Guilty seniors get four years in jail

Earlier in the day,the judge had pronounced the accused guilty under Sections 304 II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder),452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt,assault or wrongful restraint) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Aman Kachroo,19,a first-year MBBS student at the Rajindra Prasad Government Medical College,Tanda (Kangra),was severely beaten up by his seniors on March 7,2009. He was persistently ragged by them when they were allegedly drunk.

Aman was rushed to hospital the next day where he died. The postmortem report showed the 19-year-old had died of brain hemorrhage.

The court had resumed trial against the accused students in August 2010 after they surrendered following the cancellation of their bail applications.

The prosecution,led by senior public prosecutor Jiwan Lal Sharma,had pleaded that Aman was brutally beaten up under the garb of ragging by his four seniors and had succumbed to his injuries.

While prosecution had sought maximum punishment so that the menace of ragging can be brought to an end,the defence pleaded for leniency as the four accused have already been in jail for 20 months.

A Supreme Court-appointed committee had found rampant alcoholism on the campus and a lack of anti-ragging norms as the reason behind Aman Kachroo’s death. The committee also confirmed what the family had always stressed — that Aman repeatedly told college authorities of his humiliation but did not receive any response.

The apex court appointed committee also recommended action against the college principal as it found him to be lackadaisical in dealing with Aman’s complaints.

Kachroo’s death led to the introduction of new guidelines at colleges across the country to protect students from ragging.

Aman’s father Dr Rajendra Kachroo lauded Thursday’s judgement as “historic” but said his fight — “till death ” — will only stop once ragging is eradicated from the country’s educational institutions.

Kachroo termed the verdict a victory and said this is a message in loud and clear terms to people who still indulge in ragging.

“I see this as a victory not only for me but for the people who are fighting for judicial reforms,criminal reforms and against ragging. I see it as a victory,” he said.

Kachroo said if he had not fought against the bail granted to the four accused earlier this year,”I would not have seen this verdict today.”

The court has recorded the statement of 38 witnesses,comprising doctors,police personnel and Aman’s father during the trial.

Kachroo,appearing in court for the first time in the case on August 28 this year,had said his son spoke to him in detail about the incident of ragging that occurred in the college.

“Aman even told me that he had given in writing a complaint to college authorities regarding the (ragging) incident… Three to four hours after I got the phone call from Aman,somebody informed me on telephone from the college that he had passed away,” he had told the court.

The court had also re-examined two doctors – Harjeet Pal Singh of the ENT department,and DP Swami,assistant professor of the forensic medicine department of the hospital — who are related to this case.

On July 17,the court had granted bail to all four accused,but later the Himachal Pradesh High Court cancelled the bail of the accused.