Kochi: As many as 11 senior students of the Kalamassery government polytechnic here were suspended on Friday for allegedly ragging their juniors even as the cops arrested eight students in connection with a clash on the campus. The college authorities suspended the second and third-year students of various branches based on complaints from 14 first-year students, who had shifted from the college hospital to private accommodation following the incident.
“The incident happened over three months ago. However, the junior students filed a complaint only today. We’ve taken immediate action and suspended 11 seniors. We’ve also shut the hostel,” said principal C.K. Mohanan. “The suspended students are Vishnu Vijay, R. Ajay, Ajil Raj, Anu R. Pillai, P. Shivaji, S.P. Akhil, Joyalmon Joy, K.S. Arjun, Saransasi, P.N. Jins and Mithunlal. We had already taken disciplinary action against K.S. Arjun for consuming alcohol on the campus,” he said.
The first-year students in their complaint had alleged that they were stripped naked and forced to run around the college mess, asked to take bath without locking the bathroom door and clean the mess with bare minimum clothes among others. Meanwhile, it was revealed that the anti-ragging cell in the college was not functioning for the last few years. “We’ll conduct a primary probe on the charges and file a case with the Kalamassery police,” he said. There were a total of 26 first-year students in the college hostel at the start of the academic year but most of them later shifted out of the hostel and opted for private accommodation. Meanwhile, a clash broke out on the campus between students on Friday morning. The Kalamassery police arrested eight of them in this connection.
“The issue is between the day scholars and that of hostel inmates. It all started on the college arts day two months back over staging programmes. The arrested were charged under section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons) of IPC,” said Mr S. Jayakrishnan, Circle Inspector. When asked whether the cops would take any action in the ragging issue, he denied receiving any complaint from the college authorities. “We’ll take action on their giving a complaint,” he said. Meanwhile, sources said the students had lodged a complaint with the Ernakulam Inspector-General too who ordered a secret probe into the ragging complaints.
