Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday rusticated nine students for two years after they were found guilty of ragging their juniors.
The university also expelled another 10 students from the hostel for a year for abetting the act.
JNU had reported its first case ever on
August 12 after the anti-ragging squad caught four MCA students red-handed in a room of Sabatrmati Hostel.
The incident tainted the varsity’s 40-year-old record of not having any such cases.
Desperate to salvage its clean image, JNU also put the blame on the “engineering background” of the MCA students for ragging on campus.
“Technical institutes have a history of ragging. Since most of the MCA students come from engineering colleges, they think it’s not a big deal,” said H.C. Bohidar, chief proctor, who also headed the inquiry.
The inquiry committee interrogated 40 MCA students. Three out of the 19 students indicted are girls.
“The proctorial committee submitted the inquiry report to the vice-chancellor on Wednesday. It found nine students guilty of ragging and 10 guilty of abetment,” said Ramadhikari Kumar, rector, Students Affair.
The incident came to light last week after an MCA fresher, Balbir Chand, tipped off the anti-ragging squad.
The proctor said Chand has chosen not to live in the campus for the time being.
Rusticated students cannot enter the campus for two years, which essentially means four semesters.
It also means the varsity would decide if the students could be readmitted in the future.