Engg student slaps torture charge on 10 varsity seniors

KOLKATA: A first-year student of a private engineering college at Sector V in Salt Lake, Shraman Biswas, was allegedly kicked and punched by a group of seniors on Monday after he failed to complete a task as part of ragging.
Biswas (16), who suffered injuries on his face, neck and spine, lodged a formal complaint with Bidhannagar Electronic Complex police station against 10 students whom he could not name.He also lodged a separate complaint with the institute administrative officer against the same.
Police said several students of Techno India University, where Biswas studies, were questioned till late on Monday but nobody was arrested. The college authorities said they are also taking the complaint very seriously and have formed a special committee to probe into the complaint.
A resident of Keshtopur, Biswas had started his classes at the university on August 8. He had passed Madhyamik examination with 65% marks from Scottish Church Collegiate School and had taken admission to the six-year integrated BTech course in electronics and communication engineering. “From the first week, these seniors were coming to our classroom during off periods and asking us to perform strange tasks. We were asked to tell extempore on illicit topics and were given tasks like balancing a glass bottle on the head,” he said.
On Monday, Biswas said, he reached the campus at 8am and after an hour, 10 senior students barged into the classroom and began giving them tasks. “They asked me to balance the bottle. I tried but as I tumbled and the bottle broke, they thrashed me. When I threatened to lodge a complaint, they kicked and punched me in the face,” said Biswas.
Other students of the class tried to come to his rescue, but they too were allegedly thrashed by the seniors.
After the seniors left, Biswas called his father and then went to the office of the administrative head, Ishan Ghosh, and lodged a complaint.
“Ragging is a criminal offence. How can they subject my son to this torture? When I questioned the authorities, they said, since my son could not name them, they couldn’t identify the guilty. However, they have assured me they would find them and take necessary actions as per the UGC guideline,” said Shraman’s father Shyamapada Biswas, a businessman.
The institute has formed a committee to look into the complaint and has been asked to submit a report within three days.