Ten senior students of Allahabad University were expelled on Tuesday for an alleged ragging incident, which involved them making a video clip of juniors by forcing them to perform sexual acts with puffed dolls and sit-ups. The central university has also forwarded a report to the police for registration of FIR against the accused students.
The incident occurred in the A.N. Jha hostel on 3 October, 2012 and came into light past midnight on Monday when some first year inmates handed out the recorded clip to the media.
According to hostel inmates, they were forced to perform unwarranted tasks and use foul language, while being mentally harassed. A senior student who had guided the ragging victims to lodge a complaint with the hostel administration was allegedly also roughed up by his batch mates.
The inmates add that since the administration did not take any action then, they decided to approach the media and police.
However, according to University authorities, the accused 2 and 3 year students were suspended from the hostel and given show cause notices by the superintendent on Monday night.
Proctor Mata Amber Tiwari told The Hindu that action was taken immediately after the matter came into their knowledge and the guilty students had been suspended for a year with immediate effect after a decision by the Proctoral board and Dean of Student Welfare.
Mr. Tiwari added if the expelled students were to get re-admitted in future, they would be denied admission into any hostel run by the University or its Trust.
Warden Sanjoy Saxena said the incident could be a fallout of the recently concluded Allahabad University Students’ Union elections and inquiries were on to ascertain the identity of the students “actually involved in the ragging.”
“It’s an act of chicanery, to defame this reputed hostel and get even over their loss in the elections. We still cannot ascertain whether the students involved were bonafide students or outsiders,” said Mr. Saxena.
According to inmates, the hostel would be frequented by members of some student outfits and the juniors would have difficulty to identity who the actual “seniors” were.
