Ragging in UP: 200 medical students tonsured and paraded around campus

Vice Chancellor Raj Kumar has assured that action would be taken against the guilty.

Around 200 freshers of the Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences in Sefai were made to tonsure their heads on Monday night.

The students were paraded through the campus with the instructions to give “farshi salaam.” (HT)

They were paraded through the campus with the instructions to give “farshi salaam” (one bends close to the knees). The college administration said it would get the incident investigated but maintains that such an activity was part of the tradition.

The authorities maintained that the freshers had their heads shaven on their volition. “It is a tradition that freshers follow each year. If they were forced or ragged the college will act. Last year five students faced stringent action for ragging,” they said.

A video clip of the students with tonsured heads parading on the campus went viral on social media on Tuesday.

Prof Raj Kumar, the vice-chancellor, said a committee has been constituted under proctor Ramakant Yadav to investigate the matter. “I met the students at the hospital and no one complained about the ragging. The students said they had their heads shaved on their own and no one forced them,” he added.

The pictures of the students moving around the campus with shaven heads were shared on social media.

The newcomers were made to chant “Huzur tohfa kabool hai”. (HT)

But as per the sources, the heads were shaven in the college hostel, where the freshers are given rooms. Sources further said that the seniors allegedly targeted the girl students as well.

However, Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Saifai, Satya Prakash Singh and the circle officer, Massa Singh visited the medical college and spoke to freshers individually and in groups following the instruction of the district magistrate JB Singh.

The SDM said none of the students complained about ragging but 200 students getting their heads shaved was surprising. “We are preparing our report and will submit to the district magistrate,” he adds.

Sources said that the two officers not only met students but also had a word with their parents during their visit.

As per rules, the medical college has an anti-ragging squad in place but it has been more of a toothless tiger.

The SDM too admitted that the anti-ragging squad at the medical college was ineffective and the freshers could be under some sort of pressure.

Saifai is the native village of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and SP president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The supreme court has banned ragging in education institutions.