St Stephen’s singed by burning issue
A first-year student suffers burn injuries after three seniors sprayed cologne on his knees and threw a burning matchstick at him in the college hostel, reports Avishek G Dastidar.
A first-year student of the prestigious St Stephen’s College suffered burn injuries after three seniors sprayed cologne on his knees and threw a burning matchstick at him in the college hostel last week.
The college has described the incident as a “prank”, but has suspended the four senior students involved for a whole month. They have also been barred from the hostel for a year.
The victim, Debayan Chakrabarty, went back home to Kolkata after complaining to the principal the next day.
On the night of September 27, Debayan, a Chemistry (Hons) student, approached the four second-year students for help in filling in a form. But rather than assisting him, the seniors, who were reportedly drunk, poured some cologne on the victim’s knee and threw a lighted matchstick on it.
College authorities insisted it was not a case of ragging. “The key issue here is alcoholism among students in the hostel, which is of grave concern,” Stephen’s spokesman Vinod Choudhary said. While Debayan could not be reached, his mother told HT from Kolkata that she was “satisfied” with the steps the college took.