A 19-year-old college student was brutally assaulted by a group of senior students inside a college campus in Kerala’s Kozhikode. The incident took place on Wednesday, October 26, at Muslim Education Trust (MET) College, Kallachi, in Nadapuram. The assaulted student, Nihal Hameed, sustained injuries all over his body, including bruises and fractured fingers. Nihal also suffered serious damage to his eardrum, which requires surgery.
Speaking to TNM, Nihal’s father Hameed said, “We filed a complaint with the police and the college authorities the very next day after the incident. Initially, the police did not register the complaint saying that they need to get a report from the internal anti-ragging committee of the college in order to press charges of ragging. The internal committee’s report has not yet been submitted. However, after the news came out on October 31, the police filed the case without including the ragging charges. They will add them only after they receive the committee report.”
Nihal, who is an undergraduate student of Commerce at MET, is yet to overcome the trauma from the assault. He has trouble hearing and is under medication. He recollected the traumatic incident despite being in severe pain, “I was on my way to the college canteen when three final year students stopped me. They asked me to fasten the top buttons of my shirt and take off the collar pins,” Nihal said. When he refused to obey them, the seniors abused him and his family and used derogatory words. Later that day, when Nihal and his friends were leaving the campus to go home, a group of around 15 senior students approached him, shouting. They assaulted him brutally, injuring him all over the body. “His eardrum was seriously injured. He will now need surgery for it, after he completes a week of treatment,” Hameed said.
Hameed alleged that this was not the first time such an issue has taken place in the college. “There have been a few incidents recently related to ragging. I know that some of them were settled and never taken to the police or law. I have decided to fight this legally so that this will not be repeated in the future. These criminals who engage in ragging should be barred from college and appropriate punishments should be given,” he said. “Until now, college authorities have been cooperating with us. We hope they will produce a favourable report within a week,” he added.
According to the Prohibition of Ragging Act, 2011, ragging is a criminal offence that can be punished with imprisonment up to three years. This is in addition to other Indian Penal Code (IPC) charges that apply in cases of assault and battery. The University Grants Commission (UGC) recommendations to curb ragging include “the constitution of anti-ragging committee and anti-ragging squad, setting up of anti-ragging cell, installing CCTV cameras at vital points, anti-ragging workshops and seminars, updating all websites with nodal officers complete details, alarm bells, etc.” UGC has also directed education institutions to conduct “surprise inspection of hostels, canteens, rest-cum-recreational rooms, toilets, bus stands” and display anti-ragging posters at “all prominent places like admission centre, departments, library, canteen, hostel, common facilities, etc.”
Despite there being anti-ragging legislation, Kerala campuses are not free from the menace of ragging. It was only two weeks ago in mid-October that three students of Sree Narayana College in Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, were expelled for ragging junior students. The Varkala police had registered a case under section 4 of the Prohibition of Ragging Act in connection with the incident.
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