Junior students of the Government Polytechnic College at Hindupur allegedly resorted to ragging senior students leading to a standoff on Saturday, and police officers had to intervene and bring the situation under control.
According to Hindupur One Town Circle Inspector R.G. Subrahmanyam, senior students on Saturday sat on a dharna in front of the principal’s office decrying the alleged ragging by junior students on Friday.
Principal G. Sayanarayana called students from among both juniors and two years of seniors and tried for a rapprochement, but both groups stuck to their ground, with juniors denying the charges and the seniors seeking stringent action.
Counselling
With the situation going out hand, the principal ‘invited’ the local police to counsel the students. A combined session was held on the college premises and the sub-inspector explained about the criminal implications of ragging.
The principal told The Hindu that five senior students had allegedly resorted to ragging last week and were given warning and a written assurance of good conduct was taken jointly from the parents and senior students.
They were told in front of junior students not to rag them and the penalties that they could attract. “his seems to have emboldened the juniors and they began behaving in a harsh manner with the seniors, which led to the dispute,” Mr. Satyanarayana added.
Students Federation of India Hindupur secretary and other student leaders also prevailed upon the girls on Saturday to behave responsibly.
Meanwhile, Joint Collector M. Subba Raju held a meeting in Anantapur with Additional SP K. Chowdeshwari and other officials on ways to keep a tab on incidents of ragging in colleges.
