Kottayam: Police have arrested five students from the third-year nursing department for allegedly ragging juniors at the Government Nursing College. The arrests by Gandhinagar Police followed a complaint from three junior students describing months of severe harassment at the institute.
The complaint alleges that first year students were forced to stand naked, photographed, and subjected to severe abuse involving weightlifting dumbbells. According to police, as quoted by NDTV, the dumbbells were allegedly hung from the victim’s private parts.
Police revealed to Republic News, that the accused identified as Samuel, Jeeva, Rahul, Rilnjith and Vivek have also been suspended from the college and arrested under the Anti-Ragging Act.
The complaint further claimed that victims were injured. According to NDTV, the suspended students allegedly pierced their juniors with sharp objects like compasses and then forced them to apply lotion to their wounds, causing them to scream in pain.
Additionally, they were forced to have cream smeared on their faces, heads, and mouths.
However, in addition to physical abuse, the first-year students also alleged financial exploitation.
They claimed their seniors regularly took money from them on Sundays to buy alcohol. Those who failed to pay or refused to follow orders reportedly faced even harsher treatment, as per Network 18 reports.
