Govt. orders probe into Kerala ragging incident

Education Minister C. Ravindranath on Monday asked the Technical Education Director to investigate the incident of ragging at Nattakom government polytechnic and submit a report.

The Minister, in a statement here on Monday, said the government would take strong action against the accused.

With suspicion

The Opposition has viewed the Minister’s moves with suspicion since the perpetrators of ragging were members of the pro-CPI(M) Students Federation of India. Activists of the Kerala Students Union and Youth Congress had staged demonstrations before the police station seeking the arrests of the accused. The four accused have been since arrested.

In the meantime, the Kerala State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes sou motto decided to file a case on the basis of media reports because the two victims of ragging belonged to a Dalit community.

In a statement here, the commission said it had directed district welfare officers to provide all emergency assistance to the victims, Avinash, Shaiju and D. Gopi.

The commission will visit the victims in hospital and examine the medical records and if necessary review the progress of the police inquiry. Commission chairman P.N. Vijayakumar, members Ezhukone Narayanan and K.K. Manoj will visit the hospital on December 24.

The commission also decided to seek an explanation from the principal of the institution.