First Year Medical Students Forced To Shave Their Heads, Paraded Around Campus As Part Of Ragging

In an alleged case of ragging, on August 19, nearly 200 freshers of the Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences in Sefai were forced to shave their heads by their seniors and asked to salute them wearing white plain clothes.

Etawah: Junior students of UP University of Medical Sciences,Saifai seen with shaved heads on campus, allegedly as part of ragging. Vice Chancellor says "If there has been any indiscipline,strict action will be taken. Students can approach at least their warden. I'll keep an eye" pic.twitter.com/DpKrCfRARe

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) August 20, 2019

A video of the incident went viral on the internet where the first-year students can be seen moving in a single line with backpacks with their heads shaved. Another video shows them jogging and saluting seniors. The freshers were also asked to bend and say “Huzur tohfa kabool hai.”

Freshers parading with heads tonsured at Saifai medical college.
This is #Ragging.
Dear @Uppolice please take cognizance of this. @NHRCOFINDIA @101reporters @newsclickin pic.twitter.com/ENBHm8lapL

— Saurabh Sharma (@Saurabhsherry) August 20, 2019

The students were targetted when they were college hostel by the seniors and some of them allegedly targetted girl students as well, reported Hindustan Times.

The Vice-Chancellor of Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences, Dr Raj Kumar, said: “We keep a strict vigil on such activities and we have a separate dean for the social welfare of students. Further, we have an anti-ragging committee to deal with complaints. We also have a special squad which visits every place in University to keep a check over ragging. The students can complain to the anti-ragging committee or even to their wardens.”

“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 said.

The vice-chancellor has taken cognisance of the matter and assured of stern action against those who violated the rules. “Strong action will be taken against those involved. We have suspended students earlier also. I want to assure juniors that they need not worry,” he added.

According to a study, there have been 4,700 complaints of ragging in India in the last seven years which have claimed the lives of fifty-four students in the previous seven years. There were 1,078 cases of ragging in UP alone, followed by MP, West Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. After the anti-ragging law was passed in 2009 to curb the menace of ragging in the Universities in India, educational institutions implemented stringent rules to prevent ragging.

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