21 college students suspended for ragging juniors in southern Indian college

A state-run medical college in the southern Indian state of Kerala has suspended 21 students, following allegations of ragging against them.

"The mass suspension came after a number of junior students and freshers complained to the college authorities that they were made to wash toilets and drink polluted water as part of ragging by the senior students," a senior official said Wednesday.

The college has also initiated a probe into the ragging allegations by setting up an internal panel led by two professors, the official said, adding that it will submit its report to the anti-ragging committee that will take a final call on the seriousness of the complaints.

The suspension of 21 students came barely two days after some nine students of another state-run polytechnic college at Kottayam in Kerala were accused of ragging juniors, in which a student even suffered kidney failure and is currently admitted to a local hospital.

Police have arrested six of the accused students, while the others are still absconding. "Efforts are on to nab all of them," a senior police official said.

India's Supreme Court anti-ragging guidelines clearly state that the hostels of freshers and junior students must be carefully guarded by a warden. Moreover, the entry of seniors and outsiders shall be restricted after dark to prevent such types of incidents.

Despite Supreme Court's strict guidelines, ragging still takes place in many colleges across the country and as a result of which several junior students are often forced to quit studies. Endit