Boy beaten, hand fractured for ‘not respecting seniors’ in Kerala ragging case

Five Class 12 students have been charged for allegedly assaulting a junior at a higher secondary school in Kannur, police said Friday. This comes only days after five college students were detained for allegedly ragging at a Kottayam nursing college.

The five students allegedly assaulted a junior for "not respecting seniors" on February 12, according to the police. According to Kolavallur Police, five students over the age of 18 have been charged with causing bodily harm and unlawful restraint. Three of them were identified.

“Once the school authorities give us a report on ragging, police will invoke Sections 3 and 4 (ragging within an educational institute) of the Kerala Anti-Ragging Act against the accused,” an officer said.

The FIR in the case states that the students restrained and kicked the student in the canteen, resulting in a shattered hand and other significant injuries. The school principal stated that the accused had been suspended.

“The anti-ragging committee met and reviewed the CCTV footage at the school to ascertain the incident. We will soon give a report to the police,” she said, Indian Express reported.

This follows closely on the heels of an alleged ragging case at a government nursing college in Kottayam. Five students were arrested in connection with the alleged assault and extortion of a first-year student.

On Friday, Congress member and Opposition Leader V D Satheesan stated that the accused students in the Kottayam case were affiliated with the Student Federation of India, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist).

He further related the ragging episode to the death of Sidharthan, a veterinary student discovered dead in his Wayanad hostel in February.

“One of the accused is the state general secretary of the Kerala Government Nursing Students Association, which is linked to the SFI. The SFI should be disbanded. They are attacking the students for money for procuring drugs and liquor. The attack on the student at the nursing college is a continuation of the brutal torture of veterinary college student Sidharthan last year in Wayanad. We have seen how CPI(M) was protecting the accused students, who were local leaders of SFI,” he alleged.

Health Minister Veena George has stated that strict action will be taken against the linked students in the Kottayam case.

“Steps will be taken to sack (expel) the students who are now under suspension. The medical education director is also probing into the matter. It will be specifically looked into why the hostel authorities did not notice when seniors were going to the rooms of junior students,” she said.