Patna, July 21: A group of Iqbal Hostel boarders today assaulted a girl student of Patna College and her boy companion — cousin in relationship — on the institution campus.

The rowdy elements of the hostel first thrashed the boy assuming he was guilty of eve-teasing. When the girl student opposed, she was also beaten up.

This incident, close on the heels of yesterday’s episode, where second-year students assaulted geography department first-year student Mithun Kumar Singh, has raised question about the measures taken by college authorities to prevent campus chaos.

Sources said the boy and the girl were seated on the corridors of Iqbal Hostel when a group of boarders confronted them. The boarders suspected that the boy was an outsider and the girl a student of the college. The duo tried to explain that they were brother and sister but the boarders were not ready to listen to them.

“The boarders not only beat up the boy, they also assaulted the girl and vandalised her bicycle,” said an eyewitness.

Then, the duo was taken to the principal Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh’s office. Singh called the police.

Ashrar Ahmed, the station house officer of Pirbhore police station, said: “In the course of the interrogation and enquiry, we found out that the boy and the girl were cousins. They had come to the college for some work.” They were released later.

The college principal was not available for comment.

The incident unfolded barely 200m away from the office of the principal, where senior teachers met today to prevent a repeat of Wednesday’s episode.

Randhir Kumar Singh, a teacher of Patna College who was present at the meeting, said: “The college has decided to deal strictly with incidents of eve-teasing and ragging on the campus. The principal has directed the head of the geography department, K.N. Paswan, to identify the students involved in the incident yesterday. The principal has also directed the anti-ragging committee of the college, headed by teacher Akhilanand Tripathi, to deal strictly with the incidents ragging.”

The college has issued a notice asking all the students to come to the institute with their identity cards. Last year, too, the college had made it mandatory for students to carry their identity cards after a clash between two groups. However, the rule had not been enforced for too long.

A number of students’ bodies also took out protest marches and staged a demonstration in front of the principal’s office to denounce the ragging incident.