[ToI] Engg student kills self, family blames ragging

17 Oct 2007, 0106 hrs IST,Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui,TNN

LUCKNOW: A first-year student of a polytechnic in Pratapgarh died of alleged poisoning early Tuesday, a few days after he told his parents about a ragging ordeal he faced at the hands of senior students. The family of Amit Tiwari, 22, who was studying mechanical engineering at the Government Polytechnic, filed a complaint with the police saying he had been killed by his seniors for going to the authorities against ragging.

Police said Amit was admitted to the civil hospital in Pratapgarh on Monday evening after he complained of vomiting and stomach pain. He was then taken to the Swaroop Rani hospital in Allahabad when his condition deteriorated, but died before being admitted there at around 2 am.

Amit's brother Arun told TOI that during his visit to his family in Unnao on October 10, Amit told him that he was being ragged by his seniors. "He said the juniors were made to strip in front of others and were beaten up when they resisted," Arun said. Polytechnic officials, however, denied that the death was linked to ragging.

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[ToI] Police file FIR in hostel ragging case

LUCKNOW: A named FIR was registered against five persons in the ragging of MCA student Sanjay Pal Singh. Three of the accused lived in the private hostel, Anand Villa, while two are outsiders. Sanjay had gone into a state of acute psychosis after being ragged. He is undergoing treatment in CSMMU.

The hostel authorities have claimed that Sanjay suffered from some psychiatric problems even before joining the hostel. However, his relatives have refuted this claim.

Sanjay's father, Ajay Pal Singh lodged an FIR with the Madiaon police station on Sunday that his son was ragged by inmates of Anand Villa Hostel located in the area. Ajay has named RS Tripathi, Vikas Gupta, Pravin Chaudhary and other unidentified inmates of the hostel as the accused. Two outsiders - Naaus and Mama - were also a party to the crime. They have been accused of mental and physical torture. Naaus and Mama threatened Sanjay with dire consequences. The FIR also states that though the warden was informed about the incident no action was taken.

Sanjay's family finally shifted him to the house of his local guardian. However, on Saturday, when Sanjay was going in a city bus to attend his classes, the five accused stopped the bus. They threatened and abused him after which Sanjay left his bag in the bus and ran for his life. He has been behaving like a deranged person ever since. Sanjay was admitted to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Medical University's (CSMMU) psychiatry ward on Saturday.

Sanjay has been in a delirious state and has been shouting names of the students who ragged him and saying they will kill him. "He has been kept under heavy sedation, so we have not been able to take his version. We have been told that Sanjay has a history of psychiatric problems. But investigations are on," said SP (TG), Umesh Kumar Singh.

The warden of Anand Villa Hostel, Gyan Prakash Srivastava said, "Sanjay was a bit eccentric. He used to keep awake the entire night. He was suspicious of others and whenever he saw two people talking, he used to think they were talking about him." He added that Sanjay was given a room of his choice but he started having problems with other students.

Refuting the charges that Sanjay had psychiatric problems, Sanjay's local guardian Sudhakar Singh told TOI, "Sanjay had joined the hostel only 15 days back. How did the hostel authorities come to know that he was mentally sick? You can go to his village- Dhanautia in Bareilly district- and find out. Everybody knows he had no such ailment." Sudhakar pleaded that such a serious case of ragging should not be made frivolous by such accusations. "Sanjay was saved on time else he could have run away from home or committed suicide," he said.

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[NDTV.com] Student hospitalised after brutal ragging

Sanket Upadhyay
Monday, September 17, 2007 (New Delhi)

Fun for some has turned into a tragedy for Sanjay Pal Singh.

Ragging by a few seniors proved too much for this 22-year-old student of MCA at a private management institute in Lucknow.

He has been hospitalised with psychotic disorder and his condition is said to be serious but stable.

''We cannot even explain our state now. You all know what the story actually is,'' said Ajay Pal Singh, Sanjay's relative.

Since Sanjay's college located on the outskirts of Lucknow has no hostel facility, he used to stay at a private hostel along with some students of Lucknow University.

It's believed they tortured and harassed Sanjay to the extent that he lost his mental balance. He turned violent without reason and broke window panes, after which he was brought to the hospital.

It took a dose of sedatives and 10 people to overpower him.

Police investigations are on in the case.

''Two students have been arrested in this connection. Their involvement is being investigated. An FIR has also been filed. We will know the rest only after further investigations,'' said Akhil Kumar, SSP, Lucknow.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had made ragging in any form a punishable offence. However, incidents like this one point to the fact that a lot more needs to be done to end this ugly practice.

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