Kerala: Video of college ragging surfaces; shows victims tied, poked with compass
In the footage, victim is shown with hands and legs tied, while senior students poke him in different parts of his body with a divider counting number of times they stabbed him
After news of the brutal torture of the first-year students of the Government Nursing College in Kottayam in Kerala surfaced, now a horrific and distressing video of the actual assault on the students has surfaced.
The video, which was allegedly filmed by the perpetrators themselves, shows one of the victims tied to a cot and stabbed multiple times with a compass. The accused did this even as they laughed and jeered at the victim. In the footage, the victim is shown with his hands and legs tied, while senior students poke him in different parts of his body with a divider. As they stab him, they keep counting the number of times they stabbed him.
The abuse continued even as the victim screamed in pain. The accused did not stop there, they poured lotion into the victim’s mouth and eyes asking him whether his eyes were burning. At one point, dumbbells are placed near his private parts, and one of the seniors chillingly declared, “I will draw a circle”. And, for good measure, the victim is poked in the stomach with a compass.
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Police investigation
Meanwhile, the Kottayam police said that authorities are investigating if more students from the college had become victims of the ruthless ragging.
The police will also probe the possibility of any negligence on the part of the college administration and the hostel warden. The video is being studied and sent for forensic analysis. The police have seized the mobile phones of all the five accused, which will undergo scientific examination as part of the probe.
Complaint and arrest
Three first-year students filed a formal complaint with the Kottayam Gandhinagar police against five seniors, who subjected them to a series of violent acts that began in November 2024 and continued for nearly three months. After an investigation, the police arrested five third-year students of the Government College of Nursing, identified as Samuel Johnson, NS Jeeva, KP Rahul Raj, C Rijil Jith, and Vivek NP.
They were remanded to judicial custody and sent to jail. They have been booked under BNS sections 118(1) for voluntarily causing hurt using dangerous weapons or harmful means, 308(2) for extortion, 351(1) for criminal intimidation, and Sections 3 and 4 of the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act.
The ragging incident has triggered with authorities and student bodies demanding strict action against the accused. Investigations are ongoing, and the police have assured stringent measures to prevent such incidents in the future.