Himachal Pradesh High Court has cancelled the bail for the four medical students accused in the ragging death of Aman Kachroo last year.
The HC said on Wednesday that the bail granted by the fast-track court of Dharamsala on July 17 was against the law.
The four, Ajay Verma,
Naveen Verma, Abhinav Verma and Mukul Sharma, had been in custody for 16 months.
Justice D D Sud said, "The trial court ignores that three (Naveen, Abhinav and Mukul) of the accused are also involved in other criminal cases."
The single-member High Court Bench also directed the accused to surrender at the fast-track court on Thursday by 10 am.
Aman, a first-year student at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Dharamsala, died on March 8 last year after allegedly having been ragged by the four senior students.
"The trial court would proceed with recording of the evidence on the date already fixed (August 2) and would ensure that the trial is conducted from day to day..." Justice Sud said.
After Aman's death, the Himachal Pradesh government ordered a magisterial probe, which blamed "alcoholism" in the college for ragging. It later brought in legislation declaring ragging an offence.
Aman's family had been shocked at the bail given by the trial court.
His father, Dr Rajendra Kachroo, had then told HT: "This verdict is a setback not only to the campaign seeking justice for Aman, but to a larger, psychological one that aims to uproot the scourge of ragging that is gnawing at the very foundations of our academic institutions. We have always maintained that this is a matter between the state and the accused but we are highly disappointed... It is not that we are driven by a desire for revenge - but because it (such decisions) conveys a wrong message of chalta hai (everything goes)."