After they abused their juniors by asking them to strip en masse, IIT Kanpur dealt a swift blow to second-year students who indulged in the ragging. Cracking the whip on an incident of junior ragging, IIT Kanpur's apex administrative body; the Senate, on Monday extended the suspension of the 22 second-year students from one to three years. They were earlier suspended in September for ragging their juniors and will be able to resume their course only after the suspension is complete. While 16 students were suspended for three years, six others will remain suspended for one year and their entry to campus will remain restricted.
The decision came late on Monday evening after a marathon meeting of the Senate presided by Director, Prof Indranil Manna and Deputy Director, Prof Manindra Agarwal. Sources said the Senate arrived at the decision after elaborate deliberations over the course of punishment but decided against a FIR as it could taint their careers. The second-year BTech students were accused of bullying and abusing their juniors who joined this July. They had complained that they were humiliated and asked to strip by their seniors, enduring massive embarrassment. A probe committee was set up by the IIT-K administration to look into the allegations that found the charges to be true and recommended suspending the 22 accused.
The senate in its last meeting on September 21 and 22 had accepted the recommendations. According to Prof Agarwal, the decision would go down the line as a deterrent for students here who will now think twice before pulling such a stunt.
On August 19 and 20, the first year students were ragged by the second year students in the hostel rooms. The juniors had approached the Dean of Student Affairs (DOSA) en masse. As a result, a nine-member committee comprising of four student representatives and five faculty members was set up to look into the issue. On finding the ragging charges and allegations of sexual harassment true, the probe panel had recommended strict action against the guilty students and the matter was referred to the institute senate for any final action.