The College Academic Council of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University on Saturday night suspended 18 second-year students both from academics and hostel for allegedly resorting to ragging on the Anantapur Engineering College hostel premises (Gurukula hostel).
While there were no incidents of ragging reported for a long time since the advent of COVID-19, this comes as a shock to many students and parents.
On Friday night the JNTUA Registrar Chundupalli Sashidhar got a phone call from a parent of one of the first-year students complaining that the student was missing from the hostel (Lepakshi Hostel).
Immediately the engineering college principal P. Sujatha visited the Lepakshi Hostel and could not find those students in the hostel and based on her enquiries with other first-year students in the hostel, she came to understand that senior students were ragging them by calling them to their hostel.
The Registrar told The Hindu that the college principal immediately rushed to the Gurukula Hostel and on verification found three first-year students present there and asked for the reason for their presence in the seniors’ hostel, they spilled the beans.
The College Academic Council then suspended the 18 students found involved in the ragging incidents as explained by the first-year students.
While no First Information Report was lodged with the local police, Anantapur Superintendent of Police Fakkeerappa Kaginelli said that he had suo-motu taken cognizance of the incident and deputed a DSP-rank officer to probe into the entire incident on Sunday. “We will also ascertain if there was any physical ragging or ragging over telephone as alleged by the students was resorted to and proper action initiated,” the SP added.
Meanwhile, the JNTUACEA principal will constitute a committee on Monday and elicit facts from the senior and junior students, wardens and other officials to take a final decision as to whether the senior students’ academic suspension could be revoked.
