Commenting on the Kottayam ragging case, the Congress-led opposition the United Democratic Front (UDF) on Friday alleged that the accused in the case are from Kerala Government Nursing Students Association (KGNSA) which is linked with the Left student organisation – the Students’ Federation of India (SFI).
Speaking to media, V D Satheesan, Leader of Opposition, said, “Everyone knows they are SFI activists, yet they are now denying it.” Satheesan further alleged that last year members of SFI were involved in the death of a student allegedly at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Pookode, Wayanad. ”In the Pookode ragging case, SFI members were accused, yet they were allowed to appear for exams, and the only ones who suffered were the victim’s family,” he added.
Meanwhile, the state Higher Education Minister R Bindu assured that strict action would be taken against the accused in Kottayam ragging case. She said that the government has directed authorities to take stringent action in the case. She said the government intervention in that case is limited since the institution is under Kerala University of Health Sciences. A team of the Directorate of Medical Education headed by Deputy Director of Nursing Education will be investigating the case as told by Bindu.
Condemning the incident as ‘very cruel and very brutal’, the state Health Minister Veena George said that the DME has received a preliminary report from the nursing school. George informed that the incident happened in the hostel of the nursing colleges and that the accused were general nursing students. “I asked the DME to send team of higher officers, and they are now in contact with the officials there. The nursing school has already suspended these students,” she said.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken cognisance of of the case. Turning the ragging incident as a ‘severe violation of human rights’, the commission sought an action report of the case from the state police on Thursday.
Several student organisations, including the Kerala Students Union and ABVP’s Kerala Student Workers took out protest March demanding stringent action in the case.
Five accused arrested by the police
The police arrested five senior students of the Government Nursing College, Kottayam, Keralal for assault and extortion of money on the complaint of a first year student on 11th February. Kottayam SP Shahul Hameed said that the police are investigating a how the video was made public and how recorded it.
”So far, only one student has complained. We are looking to see whether more students were tortured. We will record the statements of more students. Besides, we will also investigate whether the matter took place with the connivance of authorities, including the hostel warden,” SP Hameed said.
The SP said that ragging incidents took place between November 16 last year and February 10. He added that the ragging started with senior students forcing junior students to send them money online. Some senior students allegedly placed a knife on the neck of the complainant for not respecting them.
According to reports, the complainant’s family was not aware of the torture that their son was undergoing on the campus. His family came to know about it on the day he filed a complaint. “Only on February 11, the day he complains to the college principal, was I also told about the ragging. Many students have faced a similar experience but they are all afraid of speaking out,” said the complainant’s father.
Background of the case
An extremely disturbing video of the brutal ragging incident surfaced on social media on Thursday (13th February). The video shows a student helplessly tied to a cot and being subjected to horrifying torture. The semi-naked student is being pierced with a compass while the accused placed dumbells on his crotch and applied fevicol in his wounds.
Horrific. Is this ragging? No, it's clearly a criminal offense.
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) February 14, 2025
These "students" are associated with SFI, a left-wing student org, and since the Left is ruling Kerala, I don't expect strict action against them. They've been arrested, but they'll likely get away with it. pic.twitter.com/8gDvP0mOk2
Among the accused are two second year general nursing students named Samuel Johnson (20) and Jeeva NS (19) and three third-year students named Rahul Raj KP (22), Rijiljith (21) and Vivek NV (21). All of them have been suspended from the college and a case has been registered a under the Prohibition of Ragging Act of 2011. In addition to this, sections 118(1), 308(2), 351(1) of the BNS. The accused are currently lodged in the district jail after being remanded by the court.
