Siliguri, Nov. 18: The anti-ragging committee of the North Bengal University has named 30 second and third-year MCA students for allegedly physically and mentally torturing three freshers throughout the night on September 5.
The ragging came to light after a first-year student enrolled for Masters in Computer Applications wrote to the hostel authorities of the university and alleged that 10 of his seniors had beaten him up and abused him - he had mentioned use of filthy language and gestures - on the night of September 5 in the Ramkrishna hostel on the NBU campus.
The boy left the campus, quit the course and returned home to Murshidabad.
After the university anti-ragging team began the probe into his allegations, two other boys of MCA first-year, who hailed from Burdwan and East Midnapore and stayed in the same hostel, filed complaints saying they too were beaten up and abused the same night.
They named 20 more second and third-year students. These two first-year students too have quit the course and gone home.
After the Murshidabad boy wrote to the hostel authorities, NBU officials filed an FIR against the 10 students, as required under UGC guidelines to counter ragging in educational institutions.
The anti-ragging committee has recommended punishment to the 30 students but what punishment each student will face will be decided by the university's executive committee (EC) that is expected to meet tomorrow.
"We had formed a five-member inquiry committee that investigated the complaints of ragging by the victims. The committee has submitted its report to the anti-ragging committee last month. The meetings of the committee were held for two consecutive days since yesterday to study the report. We found that 30 senior students, who are in second and third year of MCA, were involved in ragging three junior students," a university official said today.
"The committee members deliberated on the steps to be taken against the offenders and have recommended punishment according to UGC regulations. The recommendations were forwarded to the EC today and the final decision... against those involved will be taken at the EC meeting tomorrow," the official said.
"The severity of the punishment will vary for the guilty, depending on their degree of involvement in the ragging. According to the UGC guidelines, punishment for those directly involved can be expelled from the institution while those who are less involved, can be suspended for a semester or told to vacate the hostel," the official added.
This is the first time the NBU, which is the biggest university in north Bengal, has proceeded to take action against so many students in a case of students' abuse by their seniors.
About the complaints of the three freshers, an NBU source said: "All three have alleged physical and mental torture by the seniors who ragged them for hours. They told the anti-ragging committee members, who have spoken to them, that they were asked to utter filthy abuses, make obscene gestures and they were beaten up."
A varsity official said: "We took cognisance of the complaints of ragging filed by the other two students and extended the scope of the inquiry. Names of around 20 more senior students were revealed during the investigation and so the number of those involved in ragging incidents rose to around 30 from 10."
The official said: "We had requested them through letters to come and continue their studies but they have declined."
