The final report submitted by the anti-ragging squad regarding the death of Sidharthan JS, a second-year veterinary student at the Pookode College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Kerala, reveals that he was subjected to ragging for eight months by students including Student Federation of India (SFI) leaders.
As per media reports, the anti-ragging squad found that upon joining the hostel, Sidharthan was instructed to report twice every day to the room of Arun, who is the college union president and SFI unit committee member. Sidharthan was stripped naked and subjected to violence several times in that room. The report will be submitted to the vice-chancellor after a legal opinion is sought.
Sidharthan was found dead in a men’s hostel washroom on the college campus on the afternoon of February 18. Though the police had initially considered Sidharthan’s death a case of suicide, the post-mortem report and further investigations revealed that he was viciously assaulted by his college mates.
Eighteen students, including four members of the SFI, were arrested in connection with the case.
On March 9, weeks after Sidharthan’s death, an interim report by the anti-ragging squad report had revealed a horrific story of violence. It contained details of the brutal physical assault and public trial he faced at the hands of his batchmates and seniors on the night of February 16.
The report says that Sidharthan was assaulted at four different places — the hilltop near the water tank in front of the men’s hostel, room number 21 on the first floor of the hostel, the hostel courtyard, and the corridor at the entrance of the dormitory. He was allegedly stripped down to his underwear after he was brought to the hostel, and the report says most of the 139 inmates witnessed the violence being unleashed upon him in the courtyard.
The Vythiri police’s remand report had mentioned that a few batchmates and seniors had accused him of misbehaving with a female classmate during the Valentine’s Day celebration on campus on February 14. He was taken to the hilltop to “settle” the alleged issue as per the “unwritten rules” of the men’s hostel, rather than proceed against him legally.