In Kerala, another ragging case, this time from a school: Boy beaten, hand fractured for ‘not respecting seniors’

Kolavallur Police said they had registered a case for causing hurt and unlawful restraint against five students, all over the age of 18. Three of them have been identified.

“Once the school authorities give us a report on ragging, police will invoke Sections 3 and 4 (ragging within an educational institute) of the Kerala Anti-Ragging Act against the accused,” an officer said.

The FIR in the case alleges the students had restrained and kicked the student in the canteen, leading to a fractured hand and other serious injuries.

The school principal said the suspects had been suspended. “The anti-ragging committee met and reviewed the CCTV footage at the school to ascertain the incident. We will soon give a report to the police,” she said.

This comes close on the heels of the alleged ragging incident at a government nursing college in Kottayam. In that, five students were arrested for allegedly assaulting and extorting a first-year student.

On Friday, Congress legislator and Opposition Leader V D Satheesan claimed that the accused students in the Kottayam case had links with the Student Federation of India, the student wing of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist). He also linked the ragging incident to the death of Sidharthan, a veterinary student who was found dead in his hostel in Wayanad last February.

“One of the accused is the state general secretary of the Kerala Government Nursing Students Association, which is linked to the SFI. The SFI should be disbanded. They are attacking the students for money for procuring drugs and liquor. The attack on the student at the nursing college is a continuation of the brutal torture of veterinary college student Sidharthan last year in Wayanad. We have seen how CPI(M) was protecting the accused students, who were local leaders of SFI,” he alleged.

Health Minister Veena George said stern action will be taken against the accused students in the Kottayam case.

“Steps will be taken to sack (expel) the students who are now under suspension. The medical education director is also probing into the matter. It will be specifically looked into why the hostel authorities did not notice when seniors were going to the rooms of junior students,” she said.