Three senior nursing students of Al-Qamar College in Kalaburugi, Karnataka, were arrested on Saturday on charges of attempt to murder in connection with the alleged ragging of a first-year Dalit girl student, PTI reported. Superintendent of Police N Shashikumar said that Lakshmi, Athera and Vishnupriya have been sent to judicial custody.
KP Aswathy, a 19-year-old girl from Kerala, was reportedly forced to drink toilet cleaner by five of her seniors at the college hostel on May 9. She was admitted to Kozhikode Medical College hospital on June 2 and is still recovering from severe damage to her internal organs.
The National Human Rights Commission urged the state government and Kozhikode district authorities to file a report. Kozhikode Police registered an FIR only on June 22. Police said preliminary investigation revealed that the girl was also asked to sing and dance for her seniors on several occasions, The Indian Express reported. “However, investigations show that the seniors did not force her to consume a chemical in the hostel,” said a senior police officer.
Although ragging is banned in most educational institutions, India does not yet to have a national anti-ragging law that defines what constitutes ragging and the punishment it entails.
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