25 November,2010 08:14 AM IST | | Debarati Palit
After four first-year students of College of Agriculture muster courage to lodge complaint against seniors, MiD DAY visits campus and finds other students too scared to go to authorities with their horror stories
After four first-year students of the College of Agriculture in the city lodged a formal ragging complaint, MiD DAY visited the institution and found many more students who had horror stories to tell but were reluctant to approach the college authorities.
Students said ragging was rampant in the college but feared reporting it to the authorities would not result in any action and only leave them facing the wrath of the offenders for having made a complaint.
When MiD DAY met some first-year students of the College of Agriculture at their hostel, they had nightmarish experiences to share.
A student from Bihar, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said past experience had left them disillusioned about reporting the matter to the authorities.
"We had informed college authorities about an incident that happened a month-and-half ago, but nothing was done," said a student from Bihar. "After the complaint was lodged, the seniors were even worse."
A student from Madhya Pradesh said which part of the country one came from was a big deciding factor in whether a student would be ragged and how much.
"Regionalism is one of the main reasons behind ragging. A particular district senior rags juniors from the same region. Outstation boys are harassed and ill-treated," said the student. "We have been ill-treated for almost six months."
Most students revealed that they were not allowed to go out of the campus, wear watches or fancy bands, comb their hair or carry mobile phones. And in case the freshers object, they are beaten up.
A student from Beed said, "They (seniors) slapped us for no reason and misbehaved with us. Most of the ragging happens when seniors come to our hostel through the windows, which have no grills."
College authorities have submitted the complaint of the four first-year students to the Shivaji Nagar police station.
An inquiry committee has been formed and will submit a detailed report on the incident.
Dr B R Ulmak, the college's associate dean and principal, said, "The inquiry committee will submit its report in the next two days. But the initial inquiry shows that the allegations made by the first-year students are correct. We have not suspended the accused students and are waiting for the detailed report. There are certain UGC norms which we need to follow. Till then the students will stay on campus."
Junior students now fear that the seniors might try to influence those who have registered the complaints. When MiD DAY visited the hostel campus yesterday afternoon, around 100 second-year students were seen sitting with cricket bats and shouting at people entering the first-year students' hostel.u00a0
