Beaten and slashed for ragging complaint

Ankit at Haldia sub-divisional hospital. Picture by Arunava Manna

TT, Haldia, Dec. 5: An engineering student in Haldia who had complained of ragging was allegedly kidnapped by four seniors and a batch-mate late last night before being beaten, stabbed and thrown out of a moving car.

First-year plastic engineering student Ankit Kumar, 17, said he had been blindfolded and gagged, bundled into the car, slashed on his arms and stabbed in the stomach with broken liquor bottles. He seems to have been thrown off the vehicle when he passed out.

Ankit lay unconscious for around two hours in a bush beside National Highway 41 in Mecheda near Kolaghat, 50km from his college, the Union government-run Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology.

When he came to, he called his father, a police sub-inspector in Bihar's Lakhisarai, from one of the cellphones he was carrying - the assailants had apparently taken away the other along with his laptop.

Ankit's father informed East Midnapore police, who rescued the boy by tracking his cellphone as he could not say where he was or get up. Ankit, who is in hospital, was said to be stable. All five suspects have been arrested.

A fortnight ago, Ankit had lodged a compliant with the anti-ragging cell at the institute, accusing some seniors of mental and physical harassment. It could not be ascertained whether the complaint mentioned the four arrested seniors - Chand Mohammad, Saptadip Gupta, Rohit Gupta and Vishal Singh.

Those arrested have been charged with kidnapping with intention to murder, voluntarily causing hurt, and conspiracy, Haldia additional superintendent of police Kaji Samsuddin Ahmed said. The maximum punishment under the charges is a life term.

The police had first taken Ankit to a nursing home, from where he was shifted to Haldia sub-divisional hospital. Doctors said a wound on Ankit's left wrist had to be stitched.

Ankit alleged that around 5.30pm yesterday, one of his batch-mates, Sourav Majhi, met him in front of his hostel and asked him to accompany him to the city centre in Haldia for a stroll. On the way, the four seniors allegedly accosted Ankit and forced him into a Maruti van.

"I was not willing to get into the vehicle but they forced me. They blindfolded me and began hitting me. They abused me in filthy language for lodging the complaint with the anti-ragging committee," he said. "I heard them breaking bottles and could smell liquor. They slashed me on my arms and stabbed me in the stomach. I could not shout as they had gagged me."

The police found Ankit around 11pm.

Debashis Bhattacharya, the project-in-charge (equivalent of the principal) at Ankit's institute, said the anti-ragging committee had recommended the suspension of some of the seniors Ankit had complained against.

Bhattacharya said the institute would launch a probe on Monday into last night's attack on Ankit.

Ragging is banned under a Supreme Court order. According to reports, Bengal ranks second to Uttar Pradesh in the number of ragging complaints lodged with the UGC's 24x7 helpline.

Raj Kachroo, the founder trustee of the Aman Satya Kachroo Trust, a Delhi-based NGO that manages and monitors the national ragging prevention programme on behalf of the UGC, said he had never heard of such brutality being inflicted for lodging a ragging complaint.

"There are instances of students getting verbal threats from their seniors for lodging ragging complaints. But I can't remember an instance such as the one that took place at the Haldia institute," he said.