The Gujarat police have registered an FIR against 15 students at GMERS Medical College in Dharpur of Patan district following the death of an 18-year-old first-year student who was allegedly ragged by them, officials said on Monday.
First-year students were forced to sing and dance, and were verbally abused for three and half hours, according to the officials. The college administration has suspended the accused following the anti-ragging committee’s report.
The victim Anil Methaniya (Patel) from Jesda village in Surendranagar district, allegedly died after being made to stand for three-and-a-half hours in his hostel room.
According to the complaint, first and second-year students gathered in the common room on the second floor of the boys’ hostel for an ‘introduction’ around 8:30pm on Saturday (November 16). The victim was reportedly ragged and forced to stand for over 3 hours, according to the FIR lodged at the Balisana police station at 12:30am on Monday. Dr Anilkumar Bhatija, the additional dean of the medical college, filed the complaint.
The accused have been booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 127(2) (wrongful confinement) and 189(2) (unlawful assembly).
“Around 12:30am, Anil Patel started feeling dizzy, fell unconscious, and died during treatment. After dean Hardik Shah was informed, first-year students submitted written statements saying they were summoned by second-year students for ‘introduction’…they were forced to sing and dance, verbally abused, and were made to stand for more than three and half hours,” the FIR said.
The police complaint stated that the dean immediately convened the anti-ragging committee, which he chairs along with several faculty members.
The committee took down statements from 26 witnesses, including 11 who testified in person. The testimonies revealed that 15 second-year students allegedly forced their juniors to “continuously stand, sing and dance”. The committee’s subsequent interrogation of the 15 accused matched the statements given by the first-year students.
The college administration suspended all 15 students from both hostel and academic activities.
