Days after Odisha student was found hanging, police say no proof of ragging yet

Deputy police commissioner Prateek Singh on Tuesday said they interrogated relatives, friends, batch mates, seniors, and juniors of the student but could not get any conclusive evidence

Published on: Jul 13, 2022, 08:33:56 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Days after a 19-year-old undergraduate student was found hanging in her hostel room in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar on July 2, police have said they have found no proof yet that ragging pushed her to suicide even as her parents continued their sit-in seeking justice.

The 19-year-old undergraduate student was found hanging in her hostel room in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar. (HT PHOTO)

Deputy police commissioner Prateek Singh on Tuesday said they interrogated relatives, friends, batch mates, seniors, and juniors of the student but could not get any conclusive evidence of ragging. He said the investigators also probed whether the student was under depression and found that was not the case. “We are now sending her mobile phone to a lab in Singapore to retrieve data from the device,” said Singh. He added a confidential phone number has been provided for any information related to the case.

A handwritten note recovered from the student’s pocket said she was pushed to end her life while accusing her seniors of torturing her. “Most people think there is no ragging in our college, but three of my seniors could not let me stay in peace.” The note did not name the three.

Her parents staged a sit-in outside the college alleging inaction before police forcibly shifted them to another place in Bhubaneswar.

Another student of the same college alleged three of her seniors assaulted and forced her to do sit-ups at the same college. A 22-year-old undergraduate Dalit student alleged he was ragged and thrashed after refusing to give seniors money for liquor at another college. But the state government has continued to deny rising cases of ragging.

Odisha has been among five states, which has reported a bulk of ragging cases in the country. According to the University Grants Commission data, Odisha reported 60 ragging cases in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years. An Odisha Police report said over 1,400 students died by suicide in Odisha in 2020, the second-highest in the country.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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