Knife attack after ragging - Assault follows boy’s warning of complaint

 Shubhro Samanta shows his wound.
 (Jahangir Badsa)  

TT;Tamluk, Sept. 3: An engineering student in East Midnapore was slashed with a knife allegedly by seniors outside his college after he threatened to complain against them for ragging him. Shubhro Samanta, a first-year student of electronics and instrumentation at the College of Engineering and Management in Kolaghat, said a group of senior students stopped him on the second day in college on August 29.

 “Around eight to 10 seniors surrounded me and took me to a room near the library. There, they forced me to smoke cigarettes and told me that if I had to study in the college, I would have to take drugs. Then they abused me and also told me that if I wanted to attend the classes peacefully, I would have to learn abusive words,” Shubhro said. Shubhro, 17, the son of a farmer and resident of Daspur in West Midnapore, stays with his aunt in Kolaghat.

 “When I refused to utter the abuses, they slapped me repeatedly. I told them that if they continued to treat me in this way, I will report the matter to the college director. The seniors became angry and dragged me out of the campus. I was also told never to return to the college,” Shubhro said.

 Senior high court lawyer Tapas Bhanja said that according to the West Bengal Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institutions Act, 2000, a student found guilty of ragging could be jailed for a maximum of two years or fined Rs 5,000 or both. Shubhro went for classes the next day and was stopped allegedly by the same group outside the main gate.

 “Just outside the campus, half a dozen youths, their faces covered with handkerchiefs, surrounded me. One of them attacked me with a knife. My left leg got slashed. Then he tried to slit my throat. I tried to stop him and my arms got slashed. The group said ‘if you complain against us, we will murder you’. They told me never to return to the college. I believe the attackers were the seniors who had ragged me,” he said. Shubhro today went to the Kolaghat police station and lodged an FIR. He also complained to the college director.