JOIN USActing on a complaint registered by Deputy Dean of Seth G S Medical College, N D Bhonsale, police registered an FIR and later arrested 18 students belonging to occupational and physiotherapy courses on charges of ragging, Deputy Police Commissioner S Baviskar said.
He said the arrested students are in the age group of 18 to 25.
The students have been booked under IPC sections — 34 (acts done by several in furtherance of common intention), Sec 341 (wrongful restraint), and 504 (intentional insult with intention to provoke of breach of the peace) besides Section 4 (penalty for ragging) of Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act. One of the victims is the son of a police officer, sources said.
Ten first-year students of physiotherapy department in the medical college at Parel in central Mumbai have alleged ragging by seniors at a New Year party.
An anti-ragging committee of the college has initiated a probe into the alleged ragging charges. A high-level meeting, headed by Mayor Shraddha Jadhav, was held on Sunday in the institute, associated with the King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital. “I have ordered the college authorities to take strict action against the culprits so that such incidents do not take place in future. We will also ensure that the action to be taken by the college should not ruin the career of the culprits who are also students,” Jadhav told reporters after the meeting.
“Whatever they (seniors) have done was wrong. Meritorious students are studying in this prestigious medical institute and such incidents will create wrong impression among them,” she said.
The college authorities have refused to divulge details as to how many students have made the complaints, the nature of ragging and who were the seniors, saying the probe was underway.