Four final year students of an arts and science college were arrested on Tuesday, a day after they allegedly assaulted one of their juniors on the college campus. The incident took place at a college in Peelamedu around 1 pm when the complainant R Mohanraj, a first year student, was walking near the canteen.
Speaking to reporters in the hospital, Mohanraj said that a few seniors questioned him about his dress and started assaulting him. “I had top two buttons open on my shirt. This annoyed the seniors and they started abusing me verbally. When I asked them not to use derogatory words, they rounded up and started assaulting me with plastic pipes,” said Mohanraj, a 19-year-old native of Erode district.
In the assault, Mohanraj suffered injuries on his face and head. He was admitted to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.
While Mohanraj’s version suggested it to be a case of ragging, the police and the college management downplayed the incident saying it was only a quarrel between students, but not ragging. “All the accused were natives of Kerala. They have had a spat with some of first year students, who also hailed from that state, when they were celebrating Onam in Kerala. Grudging the enmity, the seniors had targeted Mohanraj to settle scores with juniors after returning from the holidays,” said inspector Karthikeyan.
The police have booked the four students under IPC sections 323 (causing hurt) and 324 (causing hurt using dangerous weapons). “We are also conducting an enquiry and have suspended 10 final year students, who were suspected to have been involved in the incident. But we see the incident not as a case of ragging as it has taken place after a heated exchange of words between the students,” said college principal Balasamy.
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