Four accused in Kachroo case surrender

Himachal Pradesh High Court had cancelled the bail granted by the lower court to the accused

All the four accused medicos in the alleged ragged-to-death case of a first-year student of Tanda Medical College, Aman Kachroo, surrendered in the local fast track court in Dharamsala on Thursday.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court, in a suo motu decision on Wednesday, had cancelled the bail granted by the lower court to the accused, who were already in the custody for about 16 months.

The matter has already been listed for August 2 by the trial court of Dharamsala. The much publicised case would now be taken up on a day-to-day basis and would not be given any unjustified adjournments, according to the directions.

The High Court, in its elaborate (37 page) order, had observed that despite the fact that the entire prosecution evidence will be over in the first week of August the trial court judge has proceeded hastily in predetermining the matter.

It has also held that the court did not consider the gravity of the situation which was writ large, especially when the Supreme Court had to intervene by ordering a protective measure on the medical college campus and inquiry against the principal. The fact that the accused has been in custody for a long time is itself no ground for the grant of bail.

It was a day of admissions for the fresh batch of students in the Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Tanda. But an uneasy calm prevails on the campus, after the recent developments in the Aman Kachroo case, said a senior professor on anonymity.

The majority of the students are against the menace of ragging. They were heard blaming the entire system of ragging and even the involvement of teachers who used to encourage the senior medicos for intimidating the newcomers, he said.

The same people who supported the earlier principal Suresh Sankhyan, who had to resign after the Kachroo incident and is facing a departmental inquiry and under whose patronage this menace was at its peak in Tanda College, have acquired senior positions, said the agitated professor.

Calling the four accused as victims of the ongoing system, he said it was an old practice of driving sadistic pleasure in the professional colleges by the senior students, and it would really take some time to go off completely.

The Himachal government had made ragging a cognisable and non-bailable offence. A provision of three years imprisonment or a fine of Rs.50,000 or both has been made and this will be applicable for a student who is convicted.