HYDERABAD: Days after several students were arrested for assaulting and ragging another IBS student, Cyberabad's Shankarpally Police arrested eight faculty members, six of whom were members of the anti-ragging squad, for failing to act on a complaint filed by a first-year BBA-LLB student.
According to official information shared by Cyberabad police, the faculty accused of negligence were identified as Professor S. Vijaya Lakshmi, 57, registrar of the school, Vishwanath, director of administration, D.V. Ramana Murthy, chief security officer, Samad Noorus, 78, additional registrar, JSK Chakravarthy, associate professor, Dr. Madhuri Irene, 50, associate professor of law, G.S.Brahma, 50, associate professor of science and technology, S. Nirmala, 59, warden of the girl's hostel and Md. Adbul Rahim, warden of the boy’s hostel. The police said S. Vijaya Lakshmi, J.S.K. Chakravarthy, Dr. Madhuri Irene, G.S. Brahma, S. Nirmala, and Abdul Rahim were members of the college's anti-ragging squad. The police served 41 CrPC notices on eight of the accused faculty members, who were released on bail. It was also revealed that D.V. Ramana Murthy is reportedly absconding.
Following the incident on November 1, the student wrote a three-page letter to IBS authorities, followed by a detailed report with student names on November 3. However, the administration refused to act on the complaint and took no action against the students, prompting the police to book and arrest them.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the Telangana government, Union Education Ministry, and University Grants Commission (UGC) on November 15, asking the chief secretary for a report within six weeks.
FIR makes no mention of sexual assault, communal angle
While the first-year BBA-LLB student of IBS claimed in his police complaint that he was sexually assaulted by fellow students and forced to chant religious slogans, Cyberabad's Shankarpally police attempted to suppress the communal angle by not mentioning these claims in their FIR.
According to the FIR of the case, which Deccan Chronicle has a copy of, "They pushed and mishandled the student by punching him on the face, slapping him, kicking him on the abdominal areas, touching his genitals, and forcing him to eat certain chemicals and powders. They then tried to tear his clothes and continued to beat him while chanting "beat him till he dies." His video and images were widely circulated among college student groups, he was mocked, and he has bruises all over his face, aching bones, and swollen eye sockets and nose" (sic).
A third-year BBA student, even tried to brush his private parts against his mouth, he said.
Police charged the 10 students, one of whom was a minor, under Sections 307 (murder attempt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 450 (trespass), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation), read with section 149 of the IPC and sections 4(I), (II), and (III) of the Prohibition of Ragging Act of 2011.
