At least five students, aged 12 to 13 years, were ragged by their seniors at a residential school in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district. According to reports, they were abused, assaulted and their hair were chopped off with scissors last week.
The matter came to light Wednesday following which eight senior students were booked and one other was sent to jail.
The incident took place on March 11 at a school in the Targegaon Jungle village under Bodla development block. All the students of the school live in a hostel in the premises and have been given different rooms. The seniors entered one of the rooms of a junior and asked the other juniors to assemble there. They then allegedly began to assault the students for not doing their work and for growing long hair.
A couple of videos, where the accused could be seen slapping three minors and hitting them on their head, surfaced on social media platforms. One of the videos showed the senior students chopping off the hair of two students.
After the incident came to light, Kabirdham Collector Janmejay Mahobe ordered a probe into the incident. The superintendent of the residential school was shunted out and a show cause notice was served to the school principal.
“Seven of the eight accused are minors. One of them is an 18-year-old student. He was arrested and produced before a court that sent him to judicial custody. He will have to remain in jail till he gets bail,” said a police officer.
An FIR has been registered under Sections 294 (obscenity in public), 342(wrongful confinement), 323(causing hurt) and 506(criminal intimidation) of the IPC and section 4 (punishment for ragging) of the Prohibition of Ragging Act, 2011.
