B-Tech student ragged, beaten up in JNTU

Feb. 8: A first year B.Tech student was allegedly ragged in the JNTU-Hyderabad campus by his seniors till the early hours of Monday.
K. Nageshwara Rao, a first year student pursuing his graduation in civil engineering in JNTU College of Engineering, said that he wanted to commit suicide after the harassment but was dissuaded by his friends.
The student alleged that five of his seniors called him to their hostel room late in the night on Sunday and asked him to shave off his moustache, smoke and drink alcohol.
However, when he refused to smoke, they allegedly beat him up severely until early hours of Monday.
“I refused and they harassed me,” he said. “I came back to my hostel room and wanted to commit suicide. But as I was writing my suicide note, my friends saw it and stopped me.”
JNTU officials expressed shock over the incident and ordered an inquiry into the allegations.
Interestingly, some of the seniors facing allegations of ragging had found jobs in the campus placements recently.
“This is an unusual case which is why we wanted to find out facts before taking action on the senior students,” said Dr N.V. Ramana Rao, principal of the college. “A committee is looking into the matter.”
There are reports that ragging has become rampant on the campus but university officials are keeping it under wraps. They also persuaded the juniors not to file complaints by saying that it would affect the career chances of the seniors.
For instance, Nageshwara Rao, who was traumatised, did not bother to file a case against his seniors in the police station.
University officials had also downplayed certain incidents in which Telangana students reportedly ragged junior students from other regions.