A faculty member of Government Medical College in Khammam district, Telangana allegedly took a student to a barber shop and got his head tonsured, prompting the government to order an enquiry into the incident, officials said on Sunday.

Taking a serious view of the incident which happened on November 12, Telangana Health Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha ordered an enquiry over the matter and to initiate action against those responsible.

It is not ragging, the officials said.

According to state government officials, initially some seniors in the institute's hostel told the first-year student that this hairstyle was not proper for a medical college student and asked him to get it trimmed.

After the student got his hair trimmed, an assistant professor, in-charge medical officer of the anti-ragging committee, who also stays in the hostel, told him "it was looking odd" and took him to a salon and got his head shaved, the officials said.

After the matter came to the notice of the principal, he ordered removal of the medical officer from the hostel on Saturday and also set up a committee to enquire into the incident.

The principal said it was not good on part of the assistant professor to indulge in such an activity.

According to the faculty, it was not his intention to do so, but only to discipline the student.

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