First-year students demonstrate at the Regional College of Management in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 18: A group of first-year students of the Regional College of Management today staged a demonstration on the campus alleging that the seniors had harassed two of their classmates.

The students said that on Sunday evening, the motorcycle of a fresher had “brushed” against a senior female student while parking and this led to a confrontation. “I said sorry to my senior several times, but she refused to listen and asked for a proper apology. It was a minor incident, which snowballed into an argument,” said Satish Sharma of first year, adding his friend, Sujit Priyadarshi was there with him when the incident took place.

Satish said a group of about 25 to 30 seniors came to his hostel room later that evening and hurled abuses at him and Sujit. “They also threatened us with dire consequences,” he said.

“But before we could tell the authorities about the incident, the seniors had already lodged a complaint that we had misbehaved with them,” he said.

Acting on their complaint, the authorities had decided to suspend both of the freshers for a week, said the first-year students.

“It was unfair on part of the authorities to suspend them without hearing their side of the story. The chairman has called both the students today. We hope he would take a favourable decision to end this stalemate,” said another first-year student.

On the other hand, the college authorities remained tight-lipped about the incident. Dean Sujata Mangaraj said there was a misunderstanding between the two groups of students, which has been resolved now. “It is not a case of ragging. Everything is normal now,” she said.

A faculty member, on condition of anonymity, said: “These minor clashes take place when a new batch comes. However, it cannot be termed as ragging since no physical or mental torture was meted out to the first-year students.”