Kottayam: In a shocking and cruel incident of ragging at Government Nursing College, Kottayam, five senior nursing students have been arrested for subjecting first-year students to months of extreme abuse and humiliation. The accused have been identified as Samuel (20) and Vivek (21) from Kottayam, Jeeva (19) from Wayanad, Rijil Jith (20), and Rahul Raj (22) from Malappuram.

The incidents began shortly after the college reopened in November, when the freshers, six students from Thiruvananthapuram, were targeted for ragging in the college hostel. The senior students subjected them to severe physical and mental torture, using a compass to inflict injuries and threatening them with further harm. Victims also reported that lotion was applied to their wounds, causing extreme pain.

The brutal ragging included degrading acts such as forcing the freshers to strip and subjecting them to physical humiliation, including hanging dumbbells from their private parts. The senior students coerced the victims into drinking alcohol, filming the incidents, and threatening to release the videos. This put the victims under constant fear, as they were threatened with the destruction of their academic careers if the videos went public.

In an attempt to prevent the abuse from being reported, the senior students blackmailed the freshmen by forcing them to consume alcohol and filming the incidents. The victims were terrified that their academic futures would be ruined if the videos were leaked. One victim, unable to pay money demanded by the senior students, was physically assaulted.

What led to the arrest?

It was only when one of the victims could no longer tolerate the violence that he confided in his parents, who advised him to report the matter to the Gandhinagar police. Initially, the police thought it was a minor dispute, but upon thorough investigation, the full scale of the ragging was uncovered.

The Gandhinagar police, led by Station House Officer T. Sreejith, arrested the five accused students. The police are continuing to investigate whether other students were involved in these incidents of ragging.

The authorities have assured action against the perpetrators. This disturbing incident calls for stricter measures to protect students from such abuse.

In 2024, J.S. Sidharthan, a second-year undergraduate at the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, was found dead in his hostel room in Pookode, Wayanad district. The post-mortem results, along with the police remand report, revealed a story of severe assault, with the perpetrators now facing legal consequences.