Caught on cam, seniors slap students during welcome meet at this college in Odisha

india

Updated: Aug 22, 2019 23:08 IST

Odisha government on Thursday ordered probe into a ragging incident inside a state-run engineering university after videos of it went viral on social media.

Odisha Skill Development and Technical Education minister Premanand Nayak said he has ordered a probe into the incident of alleged ragging of first and second year students of the technical university by final year students of Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology in Sambalpur district. “The Registrar of the university has been asked to conduct a probe and action will be taken after receiving the report,” he said.

Nayak’s order came after the videos of ragging of over 50 students of second year students of VSSUT by third and fourth year students of the university near the dining hall of the hostel became a rage on social media.

However, the Vice Chancellor of the university debarred 10 students from appearing examinations for 1 year while 52 other boarders have been penalised Rs 2,000 each.

The videos showed seniors slapping the juniors while asking them to run down the stairs. Several seniors were also seen tearing off the shirts of second year students while others were thrashed in the name of ragging during the welcome ceremony. Some were forced to mimic sex scenes while others were made to dance in undergarments. The exact date on which the incidents occurred is yet to be known.

Ragging inside or outside the hostel or campus is banned by the government and anybody found ragging in any form can be expelled from the institute.

Vice chancellor of the university, Atal Choudhury, said he was not aware about the incident, but said stringent action would be taken against the guilty after probe. The students who were put through the ordeal have not lodged any complaint.

A recent report on ragging compiled by UGC showed that Odisha ranked fourth among the top five states where campus ragging was rampant. Grievances lodged with the UGC between 2013 and 2017 showed that a total of 207 allegations were reported from Odisha during the years.

The grievance report revealed that Uttar Pradesh topped the position in campus ragging list.