Five students of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge and Technologies (RGUKT), also known as Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at the temple town of Basar in Telangana’s Nirmal district, were booked for allegedly ragging their juniors in the university hostel on Thursday, the police said.
According to Basar sub-inspector M Mahesh, a complaint lodged by student welfare dean Dr Halle Dattu said five students studying in the second year for a Pre-University Course (PUC) at the university had allegedly ragged their juniors pursuing PUC first year at the university hostel.
“Based on the complaint, we booked a case against the five students under Section 323 (voluntarily causing injuries), 506 (Criminal Intimidation) and Section 4 of Telangana Prohibition Ragging Act, 1997,” the SI said.
He refused to disclose the names of the accused and the victims, as all of them were juveniles and added that no arrests had been made so far.
According to the complaint, the accused seniors had called three of their juniors to their rooms in the university hostel in the early hours of Thursday and indulged in ragging.
“The accused allegedly beat them up for not giving due respect to the seniors and threatened them with dire consequences if they complained to the authorities,” the SI said, quoting the complaint.
The seniors also allegedly harassed the juniors at the hostel mess during the breakfast period.
“Unable to bear this, the three juniors brought it to the notice of the dean of student welfare. After inquiring with other students and discussing with the higher officials, the dean lodged the complaint with the police,” Mahesh said.
The RGUKT-Basar remained in the headlines back in June earlier this year after over 8,000 students had launched indefinite protests at the university campus for nearly a week demanding solution to their long-pending issues, including appointment of a full-time vice chancellor, teaching faculty and other facilities including laptops.