14 students from Silchar Dental College expelled from hostel for ragging

NEW DELHI: Fourteen students of Silchar Dental College in Assam have been expelled from the hostel for six months for allegedly ragging juniors who were recently admitted to the institute, the college principal said on Tuesday.

This is the fourth instance of alleged ragging that has come to light in the northeastern state in the last 10 days. The affected juniors of the boys hostel directly filed a complaint against the seniors on the helpline of the University Grants Commission and the email was forwarded to the principal, following which the anti-ragging squad of the college conducted an investigation, Principal Manjula Das told PTI.

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“The inquiry at the institutional level was completed and we took the decision of expelling the students from the hostel. They have not been suspended from academics and they can continue to attend classes”, she said. This is the minimum step that the college has taken and the next course of action will be decided following further investigations, she said.

An incident came to light last month when a first-semester MCom student of Dibrugarh University jumped off the second floor of his hostel to “save” himself from ragging on November 26. Four senior students of the University were rusticated for three years, 18 others were expelled and three hostel wardens were suspended for alleged dereliction of duty.

In the second incident, two post-graduate students of Assam Medical College Hospital, Dibrugarh, were suspended from attending classes for six months and expelled from the hostel for allegedly ragging juniors. In the third case of ragging, a case was filed against nine people following a complaint filed by the Principal of Jagannath Barooah College, Jorhat.

The principal filed the complaint on receiving a letter from a junior student alleging ragging by a senior student of the college. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, had recently said that the government will act tough to eliminate the menace of ragging from society.