SPA calls back students suspended for ragging

Kujur's lawyer, Supreme Court advocate Meera Patel, has submitted an application before Additional Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Ajay Chaudhary to register a case of "culpable negligence" against SPA authorities, including Dean Nilima Risbud, Director Chetan Vaidya, Registrar C P Raghave and warden of SPA hostel located in New Friends Colony.

Quoting a 2007 Supreme Court order, Patel said in the complaint that a first information report (FIR) must be filed in every ragging case without exception by the institute's authorities. "Any failure on part of the institutional authority or negligence or deliberate delay in lodging the FIR with the local police shall be construed to be an act of 'culpable negligence' on the part of institutional authority. If the victim or his parent/guardian intends to file an FIR directly with police, that will not absolve the institution from the requirement of filing the FIR," the complaint stated.

Also, the UGC regulations state that institutes are duty-bound to register an FIR within 24 hours of receiving a ragging complaint. Kujur, a first-year student at SPA, was allegedly ragged by his seniors on September 2 inside the hostel premises.

An FIR in was registered nearly four months later, on December 30.

"Police authorities have not taken any action yet. They seem a little reluctant to do so as they have no precedent in dealing with such cases. If no action is taken, we will approach the magistrate, the High Court or the Supreme Court to take up the matter," Patel, also legal head of an anti-ragging organisation 'Society Against Violence in Education', said.

After SPA revoked the suspension of the five accused students, Kujur was also sent a letter informing him about the order.

"They (SPA) have not mentioned what they found in the inquiry. We are now in the process of filing an RTI to find out what the internal inquiry had revealed because we feel that the suspension of the senior students was a mere eyewash," Patel said.

Responding to the allegations, SPA Director Chetan Vaidya said the inquiry revealed "nothing" against the students.

"Kujur had identified the suspects based on their Facebook profiles. Identities of individuals cannot be established on the basis of their profiles on social networking sites. We found nothing against them and have revoked the suspension of the five students. Kujur was not ready to come to the college and identify the students. He said he would identify the accused students in his lawyer's chambers but we were not comfortable with this," Vaidya said.

He said there is a need to ascertain if Kujur sustained the knee injury due to ragging or whether he already had a previous medical problem.

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