49-year-old Prameela Mohan's son is lying in a bed in their house, his body full of bruises. He was brought home from Rims hospital in Errattupetta in Idukki district a few hours before and the family was all set to shift him to a bigger hospital in Kollam district. But Prameela is clear on one thing, her son Athul Mohan will go back and study in the DC School of Management and Technology in Idukki despite the brutal ragging that he was subjected to in the campus.
"We are not scared. We have given a complaint to the police, the college has suspended three of my son's seniors. He is also adamant that he will go continue studying in the same college," Prameela told TNM.
Athul Mohan, a first year B.Com student was severely injured after he was beaten up by his seniors on Wednesday evening, following which a case has been booked against five students. According to Athul, his seniors, three of the second year B.Com students and two of them second year BBA students, made him hold a mobile phone on one hand and a rod in the other hand. They beat him up for almost three hours and insisted that neither the rod or the phone should fall down, or he would be subjected to worse torture.
“He has been wounded very badly especially in his legs. Both his legs are severely swollen and in many parts of his legs, the skin has come out and he is finding it difficult to walk. There are large bruises that have turned blue,” says Prameela.
23-year-old Athul Mohan used to complain to his mother that ever since he joined the college in June this year, a few seniors in the college had been trying to bully him and his classmates.
Prameela who is a homemaker said that the previous instances were not serious and moreover their son did not insist on making it a big issue. “We come from a poor family and he did not want to get into unnecessary problems. Athul was also scared of his seniors, some of whom had threatened him from complaining,” she added.
It was this fear that made Athul a bigger enemy in the eyes of his seniors.
“In order to escape being ragged by the seniors, Athul had lied to them that he suffers from fits (epileptic attacks) and later when they found out that he was lying, they beat him up on Wednesday evening outside the campus,” said Prameela.
Prameela said that she came to know about the incident when Athul’s hostel warden called her to inform about what had happened. He was immediately taken to the Rims hospital in Erattupetta.
She added that on Thursday evening, they had asked Athul to be discharged so that they could take him to Kollam for better treatment.
On being asked whether she and Athul are apprehensive of him going back to college, Prameela said that they are not afraid and that Athul will continue his studies in the same college.
“The college management has already suspended three students who were involved in the case and has assured us that they will stand by us. We never thought such ragging would take place in an arts college,” Prameela told TNM.
Athul had previously done a diploma course before joining as a B.Com student at the DC School of Management and Technology.