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Shocking incident of ragging in city

HYDERABAD: A shocking incident of a physically-challenged first year girl student of a premier learning institute for disabled being assaulted and also “punished” by her senior in the name of ragging came to light on Sunday. The victim, Kanika Pathak, a student of B.Sc (Audiology, Speech Language Pathology - ASLP), of the southern regional centre of the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Hearing Handicapped (NIHH), Secunderabad, was slapped and pinched by her immediate senior, K. Priyadarshini, a few days ago.

Ms. Pathak was also forced to stand on the chair in the clinical classroom by another senior. She and her fellow classmates were threatened of dire consequences if they reported the matter to the higher authorities. But their threat was misplaced because the authorities do not appear to have taken the matter seriously. In fact, the juniors were told to withdraw their complaint. This, even after a three-member teachers committee which probed the incident confirmed that ragging was unabated in the hostel and clinics for the last two months. In her complaint, Ms. Pathak said that she was “physically tortured” (sic) by Priyadarshini on September 7 evening. “I request you to take serious action on the issue as the limits have crossed,” she appealed.

Eleven of her classmates signed as witnesses in the letter addressed to the Institute’s Assistant Director.

The teachers’ panel of Jyothi (Students Welfare Officer), Sudheer Bhan (Tutor) and K. Dayalan (Hostel Warden) in their report were unambiguous that “senior students ask first year students to slap each other in the hostel, stand for hours and abuse them if their demands are not met” like ironing their clothes, making notes, etc.

However, Institute’s Assistant Director S.G.R. Prakash claimed this was a “small issue” between the seniors and juniors and it was “not ragging.”

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