KAKINADA: The vice-chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) in Kakinada suspended 11 students for 15 days from class work and for two weeks from the University hostel, after a complaint of ragging was lodged against them. The suspended students — nine third year and two second year— were pursuing Petrochemical Engineering at the University.
Explaining what transpired, University Principal Dr MHM Krishna Prasad said, “On Monday, when the first year student, a native of Srikakulam, was leaving the mess after dinner, the seniors called him and asked him to do their lab report work. Later, the student informed his friend, also his intermediate classmate when they were studying in Visakhapatnam, of the incident. Following this, they lodged a complaint on the National Ragging Prevention Project under the University Grants Commission (UGC) website.”
The UGC then alerted the University VC, GVR Prasad Raju, who informed the principal and Kakinada district SP of the incident. An anti-ragging committee was constituted on Tuesday with nine professors, including the principal and the hostel manager. “We interacted with the complainant as well as with the 11 seniors,” he added.
The panel submitted the report on Saturday, following which the university authorities suspended the senior students. Sarpavaram police inspector A Murali Krishna also visited the campus and questioned the students along with the anti-ragging committee. However, no cases were registered. The seniors maintained that they only tried to interact with the first year student as he seemed to be shy, the principal said.
Anti-ragging pan-India helpline: 1800-180-5522
E-mail: helpline@antiragging.in
An anti-ragging app, introduced by the UGC, is available on Android platform