Odisha college puts restriction on entry of 9 students following ragging complaint

BERHAMPUR: The authorities of the state-run Khallikote Junior College here on Monday put restriction on the entry of nine Plus-II students to the campus following allegation of ragging against them. The nine students will remain away from the campus until further order as they were suspected to be involved in ragging of a girl student and create disturbance on the college premises, an official said.

A Plus II (first year) girl student on Saturday complained to the principal about ragging by some senior students in the campus and creating disturbance in the classes by bursting crackers and passing comments. She said the girl students were not feeling safe in the campus.

While the complaint of the girl was under investigation by the anti-ragging committee, the college authorities took action against these students as a precautionary measure. In the month of September, six of these students had also been suspended for a week-period from the campus as they were found involved in the ragging to the junior students.

"We have suspended these students as they allegedly created disturbance on the campus", said Radha Kant Nayak, principal of the college said, adding that the anti-ragging committee is to ensure absence of these students on the campus.

He said the names of these students have already been communicated to the SP (Berhampur) and local police station as per the recommendation of the anti-ragging committee for their indiscipline activities on the campus on October 29. Earlier on Thursday, the authorities of Binayak Acharya College, another state run institute here, had expelled at least 12 students of Plus III and Plus II for allegedly ragging a junior girl student on the college campus, which went viral in the social media.

The college authorities have also given compulsory college leaving certificates to these students. The police had arrested five of them-two them teenagers, for allegedly indulging in the ragging incident. Meanwhile a delegation of BJP’s youth and women wings in Ganjam district on Monday visited different colleges and institutions and discussed with the principals about the anti-ragging measures in the institutes.

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They have also urged the college authorities to write the toll-free number to lodge complaints of any ragging incidents in the premises. Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday directed the principal secretary of higher education department to take appropriate actions within eight weeks on alleged suffering of the students due to ragging in college campuses in Berhampur.

Rabindra Kumar Mishra, a human rights defender has moved the NHRC for the intervention as the spurt of the ragging cases in the college campuses. Besides the government-run- Binayak Acharya College and Khallikote Junior College, he said a girl student of a private college here had committed suicide, recently due to ragging. He appealed the commission for joint inquiry by the CBI and University Grants Commission and state government.