Kachroos not happy with 4-year jail term

The parents of first-year medical student Aman Kachroo — who died after being beaten severely during ragging in a medical college in Himachal Pradesh last year — are inclined to seek enhancement of the four-year jail term handed out to those responsible for his death.

The parents of first-year medical student Aman Kachroo — who died after being beaten severely during ragging in a medical college in Himachal Pradesh last year — are inclined to seek enhancement of the four-year jail term handed out to those responsible for his death.

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“We will certainly consult the public prosecutor and request him to appeal against the quantum of punishment,” said Aman’s father Rajendra Kachroo, who lives in Gurgaon.

Kachroo, who teaches hydrology at a university in Tanzania as a visiting faculty member, said on Thursday that his family sympathises with the parents of the accused but wants a stiffer sentence to send home the message that ragging and crime will not be tolerated in this country.

“It is a sad day for the family as it arouses strong emotions but we are not seeking punishment to compensate for our emotional turmoil. We are not seeking revenge,” said Kachroo.

“We know the parents of the accused did not send their sons to become criminals but to become doctors. It is a lesson and a message for all those parents in the country whose children are in various colleges,” he said.

Kachroo said his family was grateful for the “excellent work” done at the trial court level and at the high court, which cancelled bail for the accused, and at the SC for ordering a ban on ragging. The family regretted “the non-serious attitude of the University Grants Commission in checking incidents of ragging”.