The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
‘Girl made to sing and dance, not consume chemical’
KERALA STUDENT ‘RAGGING’
PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION into the complaint of a nursing student, who was allegedly ragged and made to drink toiletcleaning fluid, has revealed that the girl was asked by her seniors to sing and dance for them on several occasions. However, it seems that the seniors did not force her to consume a chemical in the hostel, police said.
The details were obtained by the police during interrogation of several nursing students of Alqamar College in Gulbarga on Friday. These students included the five who have been accused of force-feeding phenyl to K P Aswathy, an 18-year-old Dalit student from Kerala.
“The victim was forced by some of her seniors to dance and sing on many occasions. But preliminary investigations show that the seniors did not force her to consume a chemical in the hostel,” said a senior police officer.
Aswathy, who is undergoing treatment for severe damage to her organs, in a complaint to Kozhikode police accused five seniors of forcing her to drink phenyl in an alleged ragging ritual in the college on May 9.
The college denied the charge that the student’s hospitalisation was a consequence of ragging. “It is the same students — whom she accused of forcing her to consume a chemical — who took her to hospital. She was admitted to Basaveshwara Hospital on May 9 and discharged on May 11. Some of her seniors took care of her in the hostel till May 15 before they moved her to Kerala. She never complained of ragging while she was in hospital or at the hostel,” Dr M M Baig, an administrator of the college, said.
The college staff pointed out that the accused students made themselves available for investigation at the DSP’S office.
The medical superintendent of Basaveshwara Hospital said they informed the local police that Aswathy had consumed a harmful chemical. “Friends of the victim requested her discharge against medical advice after two days, saying they would take her to her hometown as there was nobody to take care of her here,” Dr Sharana Basappa Haravala, medical superintendent, said.
Gulbarga police sent a team to the hospital, where Aswathy’s friends reportedly said she had attempted suicide. The police returned without recording Aswathy’s statement as she was not in a condition to speak, and the hospital did not inform them about her discharge, Gulbarga SP Shashi Kumar said.
It was on Friday that the police began investigation into Aswathy’s complaint that she was forced to consume toiletcleaner by five seniors. The police registered an FIR based on her complaint, transferred to them by Kozhikode police.
“A police team led by DSP Jahnavi recorded statements of the staff of the college and hospital,” said SP Kumar, who is supervising the probe.
The police will charge the accused under Section 116 of the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 (that prohibits ragging and attracts imprisonment of up to one year), the SP said.