Mumbai: 16 charged for ragging, abusing medical student

This picture has been used for representational purpose

The Bhoiwada police has booked 16 persons, including a hostel warden and students from GS Medical College attached to KEM Hospital for ragging and subjecting a third year medical student to casteist slurs. The student had complained of ragging nearly a month ago at a press conference. In his statement to the police, he said that even after raising an alarm about the incident, the hospital administration didn't take any action.

The student, a resident of Hingoli district in Maharashtra, is in his third year of Occupational Therapy at The GS Medical College. In December 2021, he alleged that he was being harassed, both physically and mentally by his roommates and classmates over his caste. The alleged torture, which began in December 2018, led to him to skip a year.

The student had also claimed that despite giving a written complaint to the hostel warden, and the Dean of the College and Hospital Dr Hemant Deshmukh, no action was taken. The Anti-ragging committee, which was constituted to investigate the allegations, didn't acknowledge the complaints. The student had then written a complaint to Bhoiwada police station.

As per the complaint, an FIR has been lodged against a total of 16 people, including 13 students, warden and others under IPC Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Anti-Ragging Act 1999 and SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989. No arrests have been made yet.