First yr students again complain of ragging on the campus

: The first-year students of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University have once again complained about ragging inside the hostel. They had reported the matter on the anti-ragging helpline of th e University Grants Commission (UGC) too.

KA Pandey, chief proctor said, “The students registered their complaint on November 14 and on November 16 on the antiragging helpline of UGC had sent the complaint to the university for probe and action against the guilty. The matter is being investigated.

“This is an anonymous complaint on behalf of many firstyear students of the university. The freshers alleged that they are constantly being ragged even though they have their exams. The CCTV footage of the ground floor for the last 4-5 days is being looked at,” Pandey said. Freshers had alleged that seniors, especially second-year students, enter their rooms forcefully and rag and harass them. The freshers had named a few students. They alleged that these senior students constantly harass them. The seniors not only make them do a lot of work like cleaning their room on the second floor of the UG Boys hostel, filling up their water campers, make them cook food but they also stop them from roaming on the campus, the first years alleged.

“They shout at us, ask us to remove our t-shirts, and drink one litre water at one go. We try to do all these things to a certain extent but now they have crossed all limits. These can be verified from CCTV footage when they come to our rooms. We do the work just because of the physical and mental fear of being hurt. There are some third year and fourth-year seniors also who support such practises,” alleged the first year students.

According to freshers, the university administration and guards are doing nothing. “A few days back, a friend from my batch ran out of campus and did not come back till night because seniors wanted to rag him. We are in dire need of help. We can’t enjoy our college life, nor can we study,” the complaint reads. Proctor Pandey said he has served show cause notice to named senior students. But they denied all allegations. “We are trying to retrieve CCTV footage. The matter is being probed,” he said.

Earlier this month, five thirdyear students of RMLNLU were suspended from their hostels and barred from using other university facilities for six months. The action followed their alleged involvement in a ragging incident in July and August. A financial penalty of Rs 15,000 has already been levied on these students after the freshers registered a complaint on the UGC’s anti-ragging helpline centre.