KASARGOD: Mangaluru police arrested 27 students from Kerala in two separate cases of ragging in the city in the past 20 days. On January 22, Mangaluru City Police arrested nine senior students of Srinivas College of Pharmacy, for ragging a junior student from Kasaragod.Mangaluru city commissioner N Shashi Kumar said the junior student, a minor, discontinued his education because of the mental harassment from the seniors. The nine seniors assaulted him and asked him to shave his mustache and tonsure his head.
The incident came to light when the victim returned home in Kasaragod and refused to go to college. “The parents approached the police and during the investigation, we came to know about the ragging in the private college,” said an officer.
The victim from Kasaragod was staying in a private paying guest (PG) accommodation. He told the police four other juniors in the PG accommodation were being ragged by the seniors when he joined there. Based on his complaint, police arrested the nine accused and charged them with relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Karnataka Education Act.
On Wednesday, Ullal Police in Mangaluru arrested 18 second-year students for ragging five juniors of Kanachur Institute of Medical Sciences, Deralakatte. The seniors made the juniors tonsure their heads and shave their mustaches, according to the complaint filed by Martin George, a canteen officer of the institute. Of the arrested, 17 students are aged 19 years and one of them is 20 years, said police.
Ragging case: Rights activist slams police for parading accused before media
The students are charged with voluntarily causing hurt (Section 323 of the IPC); and punishment for criminal intimidation (Section 506 of the IPC) read with Section 34 of the IPC (common intention). They are also charged with ragging (Section 116) under the Karnataka Education Act. The arrested persons are from Ettumanoor, Kottayam, Chitarikal and Pullur in Kasaragod; Vadakara, Manjeri and Malappuram in Kerala.
Social and Human Rights activist Vidya Dinker slammed the police for parading the accused in both the instances before the media as it is in violation of the Supreme Court order of 2014. City police commissioner Kumar is playing to the gallery and catering to the base sentiments of people by parading the accused before media, she said.
“He may win new fans, but it violates Supreme Court order and Article 21. They are accused,” Vidya said. She also said ragging is unacceptable and it causes psychological damage to students. “But senior police officers should know the law. If the police were serious about preventing ragging, they should have joined hands with colleges and conducted awareness camps. They knew colleges were being reopened. Policing is about anticipating crimes and law and order situation,” she said.The media, too instead of questioning the police action, participated in the spectacle, she said. Dinker said she will be meeting the commissioner.
Police parading
Activist Vidya Dinker slammed the police for parading the accused in both the instances before media