Haldwani : Alleged video of ragging of students circulated of Medical College in Haldwani, Orders issued for investigation

Haldwani : A video of students walking in a queue at the Government Medical College campus in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, with their heads shaved and their hands tied behind, has been circulated on social media, purportedly being ragging by senior students. The principal said that if it is proved that there was ragging on the campus, then strict action will be taken against those responsible.

A video of students walking in a queue at the Government Medical College campus in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, with their heads shaved and their hands tied behind, has been circulated on social media, purportedly being ragging by senior students.

However, no complaint has been made by the aggrieved students in this regard. No formal complaint has been made to the police in this regard. In the aired video, 27 students who are seen walking in a queue are said to be of MBBS first year. Wearing lab coats and wearing face masks, all the students turned their faces down. He can also be heard saying ‘Doctor Sahab Namaskar’ in the video. After this video went viral, the Haldwani Government Medical College administration has ordered an inquiry to find out the angle of ragging.

Under this, the Disciplinary Committee and the Anti-Ragging Panel, which also has the participation of the district administration, will talk to the students and recommend action if there is a case of ragging. However, till now the college administration has not received any complaint from any student of the first year. Arun Joshi, principal of the medical college, said, “If it is proved that there was ragging on the campus, then strictest action will be taken against those responsible.”

Joshi said, ‘We have seen the video. All the shaved students can be seen walking in a line from their lecture hall to the dining hall. Guards were present and the video seems to be a few days old. Students have given different reasons for shaving their heads. Somebody said that it is due to heat, then someone told the problem of dandruff. However, it is possible that there is pressure on them to give such reasons.

Talking about starting the new batch of MBBS last month, he said, “We have called a meeting of the disciplinary committee on Monday taking cognizance of the matter. We will ask first year students to give their statements in writing. We will ask him to give reasons for shaving his head, was there any pressure put on him. If there is suspicion of ragging, a meeting of the anti-ragging committee will also be held and the district administration will also be involved in it.

However, this is not the first time that cases of alleged ragging have come to light from the college. Some students were fined Rs 10,000 in 2019 on similar charges. At that time the administration had claimed that the incident was the result of a dispute between the students. Similar incidents had come to the fore in 2016 as well.

Apart from this, junior students have also accused of being beaten up, forcing each other to break bottles on each other’s head and blaming their faces with cigarettes. A few months back in December also, students had made a similar complaint, after which the college management took action and expelled the accused student from the hostel.