NHRC takes note of ragging in Hyderabad, seeks report from T'gana govt

Eight students of a business school here were arrested in connection with an alleged incident of ragging and nine members of the institutes administration booked in connection with the incident, while the national human rights panel took cognisance of the matter which had assumed a communal colour after a video of it went viral.The victim was allegedly thrashed by a group of students and the National Human Rights Commission NHRC sought an action taken report from the Telangana government.

Eight students of a business school here were arrested in connection with an alleged incident of ragging and nine members of the institute's administration booked in connection with the incident, while the national human rights panel took cognisance of the matter which had assumed a communal colour after a video of it went viral.

The victim was allegedly thrashed by a group of students and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sought an action taken report from the Telangana government. While five students were arrested earlier, three were arrested and sent to jail on Monday, police said.

Efforts were on to catch two more accused students.

In the same case, nine members of the business school's administration have been booked for alleged inaction on the incident, police said.

The issue seems to be a fallout of a woman-student taking exception to certain comments of the victim during a chat on the social media last month and informed friends, they said.

Some of the accused allegedly went to the victim student's room on November 1 and beat him up. He had complained to the institute management and later e-mailed to some government officials and others.

He then complained to the police and a case under the ragging Act and relevant sections of the law was registered.

Amid this, the issue got the communal colour when a video of the purported incident had gone viral in which some religious slogans had been raised.

Police, however, said the accused students belong to different religions, not just one. Meanwhile, the NHRC issued notices to the Telangana government, Union Education Ministry and UGC over the incident.

A release from NHRC said it has taken cognisance of media reports on its own about the ragging and the assault on the student, who reportedly approached the college management but it did not react at once. A case was registered by the police only on November 11 on a complaint by e-mail that was sent by the victim.

''The Commission has observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, amount to human rights violations of the victim due to sheer negligence, lack of supervision and inherent failure of the college administration to ensure the safety and security of each and every student within the campus ...it appears that nothing has improved despite the UGC Regulation on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions in 2009,'' the release said.

It said NHRC has observed if measures like regular interaction and counselling of the students to identify an early indication of ragging by holding surprise inspections at hostels among others were implemented, ''this unwarranted incident of ragging may have been prevented.'' ''Accordingly, the Commission has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of Telangana calling for a report within six weeks on the matter. It should include an action taken report, along with the reasons for the prima facie failure of the institution to take adequate steps to prevent ragging in accordance with the University Grants Commission regulation, and the steps taken or proposed to be taken to punish the perpetrators of the incident of ragging, its abettors and sympathisers by attracting punitive action under the UGC Act. He has also been asked to explain whether the victim has been suspended by the college, and if yes, in what circumstances,'' it added.

A notice has been issued also to the Director General of Police, Telangana, regarding the status of the criminal case registered against all the assailants and teaching/non-teaching staff of the college concerned as reported in the news report.

A notice has been sent to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Education as well as the Secretary, UGC, to submit reports regarding the effective implementation of the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee on ''The Menace of Ragging in Educational Institutions and Measures to curb it,'' the NHRC release added.