7 MBBS students expelled over allegations of ragging

THE INCIDENT ALLEGEDLY TOOK PLACE ON NOVEMBER 11 IN HOSTEL NUMBER 3 OF THE INSTITUTE, SAID PEOPLE

MUSSOORIE: The administration of Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Government Institute of Medical Science and Research, Srinagar, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand has suspended seven MBBS students for three months over ragging allegations, people in the know of the development said on Tuesday.

The seven students who have been accused of ragging their juniors have been barred from attending any academic session and have also been expelled from the hostel, one of the people cited above said.

The incident allegedly took place on November 11 in hostel number 3 of the institute, said the people.

Later, the college administration received the information about the alleged ragging incident, following which principal Dr Chandramohan Singh Rawat called a meeting and took up the matter with the chief warden, hostel warden as well as the discipline committee. After the meeting, an inquiry was launched into the matter, said people in the know of the matter.

Principal Rawat said, “the seven MBBS students — five of the 2019 batch and two of the 2020 batch — were suspended from academic activities for three months after being found guilty by the panel of inquiry of ragging their juniors” as reported by news agency PTI.

“If the accused students repeat any such (ragging) incident in the future, they will be suspended for the entire session,” he said.

The suspended students were identified as Saurabh Kumar, Shadab Ahmed, Harshit Raj, Shoban Ahmed,

Gul Mohammad from the 2019 batch and Akshit Saini, Nitin Singh from the 2020 batch.

According to people aware of the matter, on Novemebr 11, the college administration and the parents of the junior students were informed that a few students were allegedly being ragged on the roof of hostel number three around 1 am.

On November 12, the disciplinary committee headed by the principal called 30 students for investigation and inquired about the incident.

“During the questioning, it was confirmed that the seven accused students had taken a few of their juniors to the hostel roof and ragged them,” said people aware of the matter.

According to a complaint filed by one of the victims with the National Medical Commission, the seven senior students allegedly abused the juniors and forced them to strip on the hostel roof, PTI reported.

The inquiry committee after questioning the accused students on November 13 confirmed that the ragging incident had occurred at the hostel. Following this, the inquiry panel suspended the students involved in the act.

“The seven students accused of ragging have been suspended for three months but the committee will assess their behaviour and then take a final decision on their future,” an official said on Tuesday.