Two junior students of a residential central school in South Dinajpur district were allegedly ragged and assaulted by four senior students of the same institution on Tuesday night.

The incident came to light after the parents of the junior boys reached the school — Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya — and complained against the four seniors on Wednesday evening. The school promptly decided to suspend the four accused.

On Tuesday night, four students from Class XI called two students from Class VIII into their room. All of them study in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya run by the central government.

The school, located in Balurghat block of South Dinajpur, has 550 students studying from classes V to XII.

“The senior boys called us to their room. We thought they would give us some task to do, but without any provocation, they started beating us. After the assault, they told us to remain silent about it and threatened that if we complained about our treatment to anyone, we would face similar consequences again,” said one of the Class VIII students who was beaten up.

Both the students were scared, said their parents.

“Our boys have been repeatedly slapped and thrashed. We have filed written complaints against the senior boys with the authorities. We are perturbed over the safety of our children here,” said the father of one of the junior students.

On Wednesday evening, they filed the complaints with M.K. Jha, the principal.

Jha said immediate steps were taken against the four accused students.

“Among the four students who were involved in the incident, two were suspended and sent to their homes. The parents of the other two students have been called. Once they reach the school, their wards would be suspended and parents asked to take them away,” said Jha.

The principal said that instructions had been passed to house masters and security guards to be on alert.

“We will not tolerate such incidents. An inquiry would be conducted to gather more information about it,” the principal added.