Caste clashes in medical hostel

The trouble started when Sudhir Kumar, who got admission through the quota, was leaving the TV room at around 10.30 p.m. He says he was pushed around by another student, Kapil Jain. Kumar said, 8220;I immediately went to the warden, who told me to go to my room and not stir out. I was sitting there with two others, when a mob of around 60 general category students gathered outside. They dragged me to the terrace and beat me up8221;.

There are around 350 students in this hostel, 60 of whom are from the reserved category. According to the latter, the other students launched a virtual witch-hunt, checking each room to flush out those who got admission through the quota.

Hostel room doors were allegedly broken, belongings were thrown around and destroyed, as general students went on a rampage. While they vehemently denied any wrongdoing, the reserved students say otherwise.

Past 1 a.m. the public address system crackled to life. Kumar said, 8220;One of the general category students announced that all general category students should come out of their rooms and beat the reserved category students.8221; The victims allege that the warden was a mute spectator to this. When asked why the PA system was abused like this, he allegedly told the students, 8220;This is a democracy. Anyone can say anything. I can8217;t do anything about it.8221;

The clash soon spread to the adjacent junior resident doctor8217;s hostel. The alleged trouble-makers had gone there looking for JR Dr Balvinder Singh Bhatti, also from the reserved category. Bhatti said, 8220;The mob came shouting my name. I had already heard about the trouble and rushed up to the terrace, where I hid in fear the entire night. They forcibly entered my room, broke my things and threw my cycle down from the fifth floor. Most of them were carrying rods, sticks and cricket bats8221;.

When ACMO Dr Sanjay Nigam, who also lives in the JRD hostel, heard about the problem he went to the boy8217;s hostel with two others. 8220;We went to Sudhir8217;s room and saw 15-20 boys sitting there and crying. They had all been beaten badly. The PA system announcement was made in front of us. When we spoke to the warden he tried to fool us by saying that he was sorting out the matter, and asked us to leave8221;.

Nigam wasn8217;t spared either. As he left the boy8217;s hostel he ran into Dr Vikas Saldanah, who allegedly led the mob to Sudhir8217;s room. 8220;Saldanah was my batch-mate. He saw me and asked what I was doing there. When I told him he called me a schedu8217; and started hitting me.8221; Nigam has bruises all over his body and a laceration above his left eye. Saldanah refused to comment.

JR Dr Jaswant Singh says he was also targeted. He was on duty in the casualty ward when at around 1.20 a.m. the other boys came looking for him. They allegedly caught him by his turban, opened it, and then dragged him by the hair to the hostel.

While this is not the first time that there have been caste-related problems at the hostel, the reserved students say that it has never been so bad before. 8220;There is always some tension. Even in the mess there is one table for us and they don8217;t allow us to sit anywhere else. Usually the warden has been able to control the small problems. But this got out of hand,8221; said one student.

The students in the boy8217;s hostel say that they are defenceless against such attacks, and have only been given assurances from the Medical Superintendent and DCP, of more security. 8220;What is to prevent such an incident in the future? If these boys are not punished 8212; and we have named them in the complaint 8212; then what is to stop this from happening again?8221; asked one student.