The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) has urged the State government to take up with the Karnataka government the case of ragging of a Dalit student by her seniors at Al Qamar College of Nursing at Gulbarga near Bengaluru.
Addressing a news conference after visiting the victim, K.P. Aswathy of Edappal, at the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital here on Friday, SFI State secretary M. Vijin and president Jaick C. Thomas demanded that the Karnataka police take stringent action against the culprits.
The depoliticisation of the campuses in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had led to a spurt in ragging cases in those States, they said.
The 19-year-old victim, who had joined the nursing course five months back after taking a loan from the Kerala Grameen Bank, had been allegedly forced to drink toilet cleaner by an eight-member gang at the women’s hostel of the college.
'Say No to Ragging' campaign
Mr. Vijin said the SFI would undertake a campaign, ‘Say No to Ragging’, and awareness classes on campuses across the State shortly. With like-minded organisations, the SFI would embark on similar programmes in colleges in other States as well.
The SFI leaders said the government should take steps to permit Aswathy continue her studies in any college in the State if she desired so. “We have spoken to her mother in this regard. She said that as of now they had no thoughts of returning to Karnataka,” Mr. Vijin said.
He said the SFI leaders would meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Education Minister C. Raveendranath to regulate lobbyists involved in securing admission for students from the State to professional colleges in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
To a query, they said the SFI would launch an agitation if the Kerala Self- Financing Engineering College Managements’ Association decided to proceed with admissions against the norms of the Justice James Committee for professional colleges.
