Juniors forced to shave heads- 5 MBBS students of Raipur's Medical College suspended for ragging

Raipur: In a ragging incident reported from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, several junior MBBS students alleged harassment by seniors, who allegedly pressured them to shave their heads a few days after the start of the new academic session.

In this regard, the anti-ragging cell of the medical college has suspended five second-year MBBS students for one month. Further, the dean Dr Vivek Choudhary asked the parents of the suspended students to provide affidavits ensuring their children will refrain from similar conduct in the future.

Also read- 1st-year MBBS students of SCB Medical College accuse seniors of ragging

According to a Patrika news report, the junior students complained of being harassed by seniors who allegedly enforced strict rules on them in a WhatsApp group. They claimed that they were forced to shave their heads, asked to keep short hair and adhere to specific dress codes. 

Apart from this, there are reports that the seniors reportedly created a WhatsApp group that pressured junior students to share photos, especially those of female classmates. However, no junior students came forward confirming the allegations and neither a complaint was filed to the college management. 

The incident came to light when the situation caught the attention of the parents of the junior students and the chats of the WhatsApp group went viral. Following this, the parents subsequently filed complaints with the college administration against these seniors.

Acting on these complaints, the Dean of the college, Dr Vivek Chaudhary reported the matter to the anti-ragging committee. After investigation, the committee asked the college management to take action against the guilty students involved in ragging which resulted in the suspension of five senior students.

Dr Choudhary told TOI on Monday, "We have suspended five students who appear to be involved in the ragging. The second thing we have done is that we have asked their parents to submit an affidavit declaring their children will not repeat the same in future and the third thing we have decided is that we will ensure the same does not happen in our college."

While Dr Chaudhary acknowledged the complaints about coercive dress rules and photo requests, he denied allegations of forced head shaving. He said that he found only two students shaved heads during his classroom visits. Among them, one visited Tirupati Balaji, whilst the other had a family bereavement.

When asked about taking legal punishment against the senior students, Dr Choudhary said "I don't want to spoil the career of students. I have shared my personal phone number with the students and asked them to call me if they face any kind of problem on the campus."

Also read- MKCG Medical College ragging case: 5 MBBS students suspended for 6 months