Shimla, July 18 (Inditop.com) A Himachal Pradesh court Saturday granted bail to two students of a college who were arrested for ragging a fresher, police said.
“Two students of a government college in Bilaspur town were granted bail by a court this (Saturday) evening. They were arrested along with their friend, who is a former student of the college, Friday on charges of ragging Surya Chandel, a first-year student of the college,” Superintendent of Police Kuldip Sharma told IANS on phone.
He said two students — not identified as they are minors — face the charge of bullying and manhandling their junior earlier this week. They were booked under relevant sections of the new anti-ragging ordinance.
Nearly four months ago, Aman Kachru died as a result of severe ragging by seniors in a medical college in Tanda in the state. The incident led to the promulgation of the anti-ragging ordinance, making ragging a cognizable, non-bailable offence compoundable with the permission of the court.
Any student convicted of an offence will be punished with imprisonment up to three years or fine of up to Rs.50,000 or both. The offender will also be expelled from the institution and will not be eligible for admission in any other institution for a period of three years.
The ordinance says that whenever a complaint of ragging is made in writing, the head of the educational institution will be required to conduct an inquiry within 24 hours and also inform higher authorities.
Failure on the part of the institution to initiate disciplinary action or deliberate delay in lodging a report with the police will attract imprisonment up to one year or fine up to Rs.10,000 or both.
