Kerala ragging case: 3 senior students arrested on attempt to murder charges

Three students of a nursing college in Kalaburgi were arrested on 25 June in connection with the alleged ragging of a first-year Dalit female student from Kerala.

The accused, three senior nursing students of the Al-Qamar College in Kalaburugi, Karnataka, have been identified as Lakshmi, Athera and Vishnupriya. The three have been sent to judicial custody.

The victim, 19-year-old KP Aswathy, was reportedly forced to drink toilet cleaner by five of her seniors at the Al Qamal college hostel on 9 May.

She was admitted to Kozhikode Medical College hospital on 2 June, where she is currently undergoing treatment for severe internal injuries. Based on her statement, police in Kozhikode had registered an FIR on 22 June against five of her seniors - over a month after the incident.

The National Human Rights Commission took cognisance of media reports of the incident and asked the state government and Kozhikode district authorities to file a report on it and take action. It issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, Karnataka, as well as the District Collector and Superintendent of Police of Kozhikode, calling for reports on action taken in the matter within four weeks.

It observed that ragging has been banned in educational institutions and guidelines on recommendations of the Raghavan Committee to curb ragging have been issued in this regard.

NHRC said the Supreme Court has also referred to ragging as an ugly scar, which needs to be obliterated from educational institutions. The college authorities were legally bound to protect students from the menace of ragging, the Commission stated.

A Karnataka police team probing the incident is now in Kozhikode and will visit the victim on 26 June to record her statement. The Kerala Women's Commission also wrote to its counterpart in Karnataka, urging it to intervene in the matter.

--PTI