DURGAPUR: Three girls accused of ragging a junior in a Durgapur engineering college have been arrested, slapped with non-bailable charges including attempted murder and sent to jail custody for five days, marking a first in the prosecution of ragging cases in West Bengal. The victim — a first-year student — had slashed her wrists after her seniors allegedly made her strip and photographed her.
The arrested girls, identified by cops as Arpita Das, Deblina Halder and Subhoshree Dhar, are fourth-year B Tech students of National Power Training Institute, a central government college.
Girl trio, all from Calcutta and under suspension since the victim lodged a complaint with the college, were picked up just after they appeared for a semester exam yesterday.
Police action followed an internal inquiry by the National Power Training Institute (NPTI) that found the three, all from third year, guilty of torturing first-year student Satarupa Das. The college, under the Union power ministry, filed an FIR last week also accusing the trio of assaulting and confining Satarupa forcibly.
Satarupa, who too hails from Calcutta, had been staying with her parents since last month but returned recently to the college. She appeared for her semester test yesterday.
“Our inquiry also found them guilty and we informed the police. We will take stern action against them but they will be allowed to appear in the semester exam. However, the suspension order still remains and they will not be permitted to stay in the hostel,” said M. Arunachalam, the institute’s director.
A Durgapur court today remanded the girls in five days’ judicial custody. But fresh bail pleas are being filed so they can take the ongoing semester test. “We are making another appeal,” said Sanjay Prasad, their lawyer.
The college authorities said the punishments they were planning would affect the three girls’ academic future. Another institute official said scholarships could be denied to them if they applied for it in the future.
In another case of ragging, a student of Bankura’s Mallabhum Institute of Technology who had jumped from the second-floor of his hostel on November 18 because of alleged torture by seniors is still in coma, doctors said today.
“Infections are setting in and he is having frequent bouts of high fever. We have kept him under observation,” said Prabir Mukherjee, chief executive of the Mission Hospital in Durgapur, which neighbours Bankura.
SOURCE: Times of India
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