Keonjhar: A group of girl students were allegedly ill-treated by seniors in a government-run degree engineering college in the district.

At least three girl students of third-year electrical stream were allegedly misbehaved in the college hostel by a group of senior girl students. The incident occurred on Thursday. One of the ragging victims, Tapaswini Sahu, complained of sickness on Wednesday night and had to be shifted to district headquarters hospital. "Later, Sahu narrated the sequence of mental and physical torture allegedly inflicted on her and two of her classmates by a section of fourth-year degree students, who were also boarder of the hostel," said Government College of Engineering principal Trilochan Sahu.

The victim students lodged a complaint and named their seniors, who had allegedly perpetrated the ragging upon them. The anti-ragging committee formed in the college has begun probe into the allegation.

If the ragging allegations are substantiated, the accused girl students would be rusticated from the college. The college is maintaining zero tolerance towards campus ragging. The students enrolled in the college have furnished sworn affidavits not to indulge in ragging in accordance with anti-ragging rules framed by the government, he said.

On August 3, the state government made it mandatory for all educational institutions, including the engineering colleges, in Odisha to form anti-ragging committees and anti-ragging squads. The circular in this regard had been issued to all institutions by the higher education department. Since then, 46 cases of campus ragging were registered in the state, said an official.