The Shankarpally police have registered a case of ragging and attempt to murder against a group of students after the video of a student being assaulted went viral. The video was shot at the hostel of the ICFAI Business School, located in Dontanpally in Hyderabad and the incident took place on November 1.
The victim lodged a complaint with the police on November 11. A case has now been booked under section 307 (Attempt to murder), 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt), 450 (Trespass in order to commit an offence), 506 (Criminal Intimidation), section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention).
In the complaint, the victim, a BBA-LLB student, stated that he was sexually harassed and physically assaulted by a group of students on the campus in his hostel room. The victim said in his complaint that at 3:30pm on November 1, around 15 to 20 individuals barged into his hostel room, “They ganged up on me, kicked my testicles, humiliated me, recorded it, and threatened to beat me to death if I didn't take my trousers off. When I refused, they hit me. I have noticeable bruises under my right eye, and the situation was so bad that a man prevented people from striking me in the head because I would get hurt,” the complaint said. It also said his head developed a bump because of the assault. They also asked him to unlock his phone, took a photo of him looking severely hurt and then uploaded it to an app called Snapchat as a story, the complaint said. “They informed me as they left that if I reported it to college authorities, I would be removed from the university's grounds and my body would be disposed of,” the complaint said.
According to the complainant, when he enquired about the reason for assault he was told that he had made a comment against Prophet Mohammed in a private conversation with a fellow student on Instagram on October 14. The complainant alleged that the person who received the message, took a screenshot of the same and uploaded it on social media on November 2, blaming the girl for endangering his life.
The complainant named 11 students in his complaint. The student can be seen in one of the videos saying "Jai Mata Di” and “Allah hu Akbar” but the police complaint said he was forced to say “Allah hu Akbar.”
Following the incident, several right wing accounts on social media shared the video and alleged that the incident was ‘Islamic Terrorism’ on a Hindu student. The student has named Hindu and Muslim students among those who assaulted him.
Speaking to TNM, M Mahesh Goud, Inspector of Police, Shankarpally police station said, “A case has been registered based on the complaint and investigation is presently underway. No arrests have been made so far.” When asked if the college has initiated any action against the students, the inspector said, “Though they have said they will take action against the students, we have not yet been intimated about it.”