Ragging at Kakatiya Medical College: 7 MBBS students booked for allegedly assaulting junior

Hyderabad: In response to a complaint filed by a first-year medical student of Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) accusing their seniors of allegedly ragging and assaulting him in the hostel, the Matwada police in Telangana’s Warangal town have booked seven senior students in connection with the case. 

The victim, who is from Rajasthan, alleged that the seniors ragged him and assaulted him when he resisted.

Following this, a case was registered against the third-year MBBS students after the junior student lodged a complaint alleging physical assault and harassment.

The police booked the accused students under IPC sections 294(b) (about obscene language in public places), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (acts carried out collectively with common intention) and Section 4 (iii) of the Telangana Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1997.

Also read- Ragging At Gandhi Medical College: 10 Senior MBBS Students Suspended For One Year

According to the victim, the incident occurred late in the night on September 14 when he was returning to his room from the library. He stated in his complaint that the seniors who were intoxicated and verbally abusive wanted him to join but refused. When he returned to his room, the senior brutally assaulted him. His batchmates rushed him to MGM Hospital.

However, KMC Principal D. Mohan Das denied that there was any ragging. He told IANS that there was a clash between students and the junior student was beaten up by seniors.

However, the anti-ragging committee took note of the incident. The anti-ragging committee and disciplinary committee will meet on September 19 to probe the incident. The Principal said that the committees will take action based on the findings.

This is the second incident of ragging at a government-run medical college in Telangana this month.

Medical Dialogues team had recently reported that ten senior MBBS students of the government-run Gandhi Medical College were suspended for one year by the Director of Medical Education (DME). 

All these senior students of the MBBS course were found to be indulging in ragging juniors during the committee enquiry into the incident. The ragged students complained to the anti-ragging cell in UGC, New Delhi, and the matter was conveyed to the Telangana authorities.

In February this year, KMC was rocked by the suicide of a MD student due to alleged harassment by her senior. Preethi, a first year student of the post graduate (MD) in the department of Anaesthesia, took a lethal injection while on duty at MGM Hospital Warangal on February 22.

She later succumbed at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad. Police arrested her senior M.A. Saif, a second year student in the department of Anaesthesia, for abetment to suicide.

He was also booked under Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Anti-Ragging Act.

Also read- Suspension Of 10 Medicos Sparks Student Protests At Gandhi Medical College