Kerala nurse body bars 5 students over ragging; principal, hostel in-charge suspended

The council observed that the accused — 3 of them from third-year and 2 second-year students — are unfit to enrol as nursing students in the state in the future

The Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council (KNMC) on Saturday decided to bar the five senior students, who have been arrested for brutal torture and ragging of first-year students at the Government Nursing College in Kottayam, from continuing their studies and enrolling in the nursing programme in the southern state in future. Meanwhile, police said more students have come forward with allegations of ragging on them at the college hostel.

In relation to the matter of the violent ragging event in a student residence that caused a great deal of public outrage throughout the state, the principal and an assistant professor of the Government College of Nursing, Kottayam, have been suspended.(REUTERS/representative)

The council observed that the accused — three of them from third-year and two second-year students — are unfit to enrol as nursing students in the southern state in the future, saying it has conveyed its decision to the health department.

“What happened in Kottayam nursing college was extremely heinous. It cannot be justified at any cost. Such accused students must never enter the nursing field in future. It will be a tragedy for the field if such people come in. It’s a service field where humanity and empathy accounts for a lot,” a KNMC official said, requesting anonymity.

The council said names of the accused will be removed from its registry and directed the college authorities to file a report on the incident as well as furnish details of a similar ragging incident two years ago.

The council’s ruling came soon after the directorate of medical education has suspended the college principal Sulekha AT and assistant professor Ajeesh P Mani, who is also the hostel in-charge, following a preliminary inquiry.

A statement from the health minister’s office last on Friday said the two officials were suspended pending inquiry for allegedly failing to prevent ragging in the hostel and effectively intervene in the matter. A prima facie lapse on their part was found resulting in their suspension, it added.

On February 11, the Gandhinagar police arrested five students — identified as Rahul Raj KP (22), Rijiljith C (21) and Vivek NV (21), all third-year general nursing batch students, and Samuel Johnson (20) and Jeeva NS (19), both second-year students —for brutally ragging six first-year students, following a complaint from the college authorities. According to the complaint, the accused stripped the victims naked, and subjected to severe physical abuse using dumbbells, including tying them to their private parts, and poking their body with sharp objects like compass and divider.

A police officer on Saturday said that more complainants have come forward with details of ragging on them at the hostel. “Their statements have been recorded,” the officer said, declining to be named, adding that police also found weapons like knives and stones inside the hostel room of the senior students during an inspection.

Amid widespread outrage over the incident, videos of the purported torture, which went on for nearly three months starting November last year, also surfaced on social media and were widely circulated this week.