Three students of Dibrugarh University were arrested on Monday for allegedly ragging a first-semester student who jumped off the second floor of his hostel on Sunday morning “to save himself from the extreme mental and physical torture”.
The victim, identified as MCom student Anand Sharma, is currently being treated at a hospital for injuries he suffered in a hand and legs after falling from the three-storey Padmanath Gohain Baruah Chatra Niwas hostel.
The trio were arrested based on FIRs lodged by Sharma’s mother and the Dibrugarh University.
The five students named in the FIRs are Rahul Chetry (a former DU student leader) and four third semester students -- Dibyajyoti Gogoi, Subrajyoti Baruah, Niranjan Thakur and Kalyan Dutta. Police said the three arrested students are Pranjit Baruah, Niranjan Thakur and Simanta Hazarika. " The trio were arrested following a probe based on the FIRs. Pranjit and Simanta are among the expelled hostel students. Only Thakur has been arrested from among the five named in the FIRs while the other four are absconding. The arrested were produced before the CJM court which sent them to Dibrugarh Jail," a police official said.
Dibrugarh University vice-chancellor Jiten Hazarika told The Telegraph that 22 students had been expelled from their respective hostels and barred from attending classes till further notice for their alleged involvement in the ragging.
The district administration has also ordered a magisterial inquiry. Action against the alleged perpetrators gained momentum following “direction” from Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
In a tweet, Sarma said: “It has come to notice that a Dibrugarh University student is hurt in an alleged case of ragging. Close watch maintained & followup action coordinated with district admn. Efforts on to nab the accused, victim being provided medical care. Appeal to students, say NO to Ragging.”
Sharma’s mother Sarita has alleged that her son used to be tortured at the hostel. Sharma’s sister told the media at the hospital that he had complained against his tormentors in October.
In its FIR lodged on Monday, Dibrugarh University said Sharma was “mentally and physically assaulted from 4.30pm of 26.11.2022” at his hostel “until 5 in the morning of 27.11.2022” by the five students named in the FIR, including former student Chetry.
They also allegedly threatened to kill him.
The FIR added that Sharma on the “pretext of going to the bathroom” around 10.30am on Sunday jumped off the second floor of the B block of the PNGBCN to “save himself from the extreme mental and physical torture” inflicted by the five named in the FIR.
The hostel prefects rushed Sharma to the Swasthya Hospital in a very critical condition without informing the authorities.
Later the university administration shifted him to the Aditya Hospital “for better treatment”.
The FIR said the five students, including Chetry, had also tortured two other students of the journalism department.
The police said they had sent a team to Chetry’s house in adjoining Tinsukia district but he was not found there.
The Dibrugarh police have registered a case under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 341 (wrongful restraint), 395 (dacoity), 307 (attempt to murder) and 143 (unlawful assembly).
