Seven third-year MBBS students of Kakatiya Medical College (KMC) in Hanamkonda, Telangana were suspended from the institute for three months after they were found guilty of ragging. Additionally, the college's anti-ragging committee has cancelled the hostel accommodation of those involved for a year.
It is the first time that a ragging incident has been reported on campus, prompting the college management to issue notices to 20 students and warning them of stringent action if they repeated such behaviour within the college and hostel premises, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
The six-hour-long inquiry into the ragging incident at KMC involved separate questioning sessions for both the victim and the accused within the principal's chamber on Tuesday, September 19. Parents of all those involved were also present at the meeting, which was presided over by KMC principal Dr Divvela Mohan Das.
The proceedings...
To get an idea of what transpired on September 14, the committee first interviewed the victim, Manohar Kumar Solanki, a second-year MBBS student hailing from Rajasthan, regarding the incident that occurred on the hostel premises. Following his account, the committee individually questioned the seven accused members, all of whom were third-year students — Abhinav Mora, Silver Sri Hari, Sri Charan, Suriya Prakash, K Lokesh, J Sai Kiran and Hari Krishna — in the principal's chamber.
Speaking to the media, Dr Das emphasised the importance of preventing recurrence of such incidents on the campus. After the student interrogations, the parents were also called in to meet with committee members and were duly advised regarding their children. Counselling sessions for both junior and senior students were conducted in the presence of their parents and committee members.
The police are actively investigating the case, which has been registered at the Mattewada police station, he added.
Earlier on Sunday, September 17, the police had booked the seven third-year MBBS students. They said that when Manohar tried to resist the seniors’ attempt to ‘rag them’, the enraged senior students beat him up.
At that time, Warangal Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bonala Kishan had said a case under Sections 294B (related to obscene acts and songs), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 340 (wrongful restrain or confinement) of the Indian Penal Code and the Telangana Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1997, was registered against the accused after an on-campus inquiry.
Committee members:
- KMC principal Dr Divvela Mohan Das led the committee
- Vice-Principal Dr K Ramkumar Reddy
- Assistant Director B Yadagiri
- Administrative Officer A Venu Gopal
- Warangal ACP Bonala Kishan
- Media representative Sudhakar
- NGO representative K Anitha Reddy
- Layperson Md Hanif Khan
- Faculty members: Dr K Shashikantha, who is the Assistant Professor of Anatomy at KMC; Dr P Sujatha, Assistant Professor of Community Medicine at KMC; Dr B Raja Ram, Hostel Warden and Professor of General Surgery at KMC; Dr M Damodari Bai, Professor of Pharmacology at KMC
- Mallojala Aparna (mother of Abhinav)
- Dr Madhusudhan
- Fresher students from the 2023-24 batch, Pavani and P Lokesh
- PG students Dr D Srinath and S Divya Reddy
- UG student D Deepthimai.
