Ragging in Kerala: youth gets brutally beaten; eardrum damaged
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TNM photo.
Kozhikode/Kerala: A college student got manhandled by senior students at Muslim Education Trust (MET) College in Kozhikode district of Kerala, causing the victim injuries all over his body, including fractured fingers and eardrum damage, The News Minute (TNM) reported.
The assault, on a 19-year-old named Nihal Hameed, happened on October 26 at the college located in Kallachi, Nadpuram. He requires surgery now for his ears.
Though Nihal's father lodged a complaint on the very next day with the police (as well as the college authorities), it did not register the complaint initially, Nihal's father said. He added that police said then that they wanted a report from the college's internal anti-ragging committee first to add charges on the perpetrators.
So far, the report of the committee has not been filed, but police registered a case after the news came out on October 31. However, still, the ragging charges are not added, too, since the anti-ragging committee report is still pending.
Nihal told TNM that things started when three seniors asked him to button up the top of his shirt. He refused, and to which they verbally abused him and his family.
Later, when the Nihal was leaving the campus after classes, a group of 15 students came and beat him. Nihal's father said that this was not the first time ragging was happening on campus in recent times. Many were settled between the parties and were not taken to the law. Those criminals indulging in ragging must be debarred and penalised, he said, adding that he has decided to move his case legally, college authorities are cooperating with him and hoping that the committee will submit a favourable report.
The Prohibition of Ragging Act, 2011, states that ragging is a criminal offence and could be penalised with three years imprisonment, in addition to other IPC charges.