Ragging at Tripura Medical College: 18 MBBS Students Booked, Fined Rs 10 Lakh, Suspended From Hostels

When an internal inquiry was conducted, the college found that the accused students repeatedly abused, threatened, and humiliated the newly admitted 2024 MBBS students, especially those belonging to ST category. Allegedly, the accused students forced the victim to do insulting activities through WhatsApp messages.

The operation from the NGO's side was led by the Anti-Ragging Activist Rupesh Kumar Jha. He told TOI, "This should serve as an example for the entire country. Mass human right violation cannot be allowed in our educational institutions."

Commenting on the matter, another Activist, Meera Kaura Patel opined that "This is one of the biggest cases in which any college has given punishment to the culprits. In many such earlier cases, the college administrations in the past have tried to cover-up the acts of ragging prevalent."

The Principal of the college Dr. Arindam Dutta set up a committee to conduct an inquiry and "the complaints have been found prima-facie true." It has been mentioned in the college's action taken order, the accused students were repeatedly involved in abusing their juniors "especially ST students forcing them to do insulting activities…, and “were found dictating victim students through WhatsApp messages to introduce themselves and speak in Kokborok language."

Apart from filing the FIR, the Committee also decided to impose a financial penalty of Rs 50,000 per student on all the accused and Rs 10,000 on repeat harassers and an additional Rs 25,000 on those who abused the SAVE team.

Also Read: Meeting between colleges and parents, Mentor-Mentee Programme: Here's what NMC guidelines suggest to Stop Ragging