Ragging Horror at CMC Vellore: Seven MBBS Students suspended

Chennai: Taking action against horrifying ragging incidents at Christian Medical College, Vellore, the college administration has suspended seven senior MBBS students of the institute. 

The principal of the college, Dr. Solomon Sathishkumar has informed TOI that the college authorities took this decision on the basis of a preliminary inquiry conducted by a committee after receiving an anonymous complaint on Sunday.

In that letter, an MBBS student belonging to the batch who joined the institute in March 2022 gave detailed description about the instances of ragging. Later, a copy of the letter had been shared on Twitter as well. 

While the CMC administration has issued the suspension order for now, the authorities have ensured that further action will be taken, if necessary, after conducting further investigation in this regard.

The letter, a copy of which was shared on Twitter, claimed that the first-year MBBS students of the Institute were being subjected to ragging on a daily basis. It includes physical abuse of all kinds, along with horrifying acts of sexual assault, psychological abuse, compulsory rules of dress code etc. The letter alleged that the students get slapped for trivial reasons, get beaten up by the seniors, and sometimes the seniors allegedly take them to the top floor and suspend them by upside down.

Also Read: Ragging Menace: NMC sets up anti-ragging cell to address complaints from medical colleges

Allegedly, the seniors had assigned different names for several acts of ragging which included sexual assault, Buzzing, tuning, Jupiter watch.

Apart from this, the seniors made it compulsory for the students to learn the full names and addresses of the seniors, made them wait for long hours at mess, forced them to remain clean shaven at all the the time, write practical records of seniors, and perform tasks for the seniors at any time of the day or night.

Further, the letter have description of a particular act of ragging on November 9, 2022, when the seniors arranged "Junior Mr. Men's Hostel" - a bodybuilding competition, in which all the juniors had to participate even without their consent. While the wardens were present during the programme and some of the doctors acted as judges, after they left, the seniors made the first-year medicos parade and run around the hostel in their underwears and perform multiple tasks including lying down in the mud while the seniors sprayed water on them.

As a proof, a video has also been posted on the Twitter which shows that the students are running in their underpants while seniors were spraying water on them using the fire hydrants.

Soon after receiving the anonymous complaint on Sunday, the college constituted a committee which conducted a preliminary inquiry in the matter and suspended seven students for their alleged involvement in the ragging. However, the students have demanded action against more students and staff, including the hostel warden. Times of India adds that the authorities have ensured that after conducting further investigation, further action will be taken, if required.

Speaking about this, the CMC principal Dr Solomon Sathishkumar said on Tuesday, "The institution has a zero tolerance policy towards ragging. Detailed inquiry is on."

Confirming that the anti-ragging cell in Delhi had also received complaint in this regard, the officials in the TN Dr MGR Medical University told TOI, "In response to a communication from the cell, CMC has responded saying they were looking into the matter. We are waiting for the college to give us a detailed report."

Meanwhile, Vellore Superintendent of police S Rajesh Kannan has claimed that they had not received any complaint regarding ragging at CMC vellore. He further added, "We have not received any complaints so far. We will take appropriate action when we receive any complaint from any quarters."

"We have not received any complaints of ragging in CMC. There was a complaint of a suspicious death of a girl student in the college but not on ragging issues. We will take appropriate action if we get any complaints on ragging," said Vellore collector P Kumaravel Pandian.

Also Read: Ensure Effective implementation of NMC 2021 regulations to stop Ragging: Allahabad HC