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The management of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, on 22 September suspended 22 students who had allegedly ragged freshers. A nine-member committee was formed to probe the incident of sexual abuse in the name of ragging on 18 September.
According to Times of India, the committee found charges of sexual abuse to be true and recommended the termination of the accused students. The management, which was expected to take a decision by November, decided that sixteen students would be suspended for three years, and six for a year.
The incident, which is said to have occurred around a month back at Hall number 2 of the institute, prompted Dheeraj Sanghi, a professor at the institute, to write a blog detailing the abuse of first year students by their seniors, and how it has enjoyed “widespread support” rather than condemnation.
Detailing the various arguments that are put forward to justify such an incident, he remarked:
According to a Times of India report, the incident led some of the first year students to file a complaint with the Dean of Student Affairs, in which they explained how the ragging involved bullying, abuse, as well as performing “formidable tasks”.
One of the students from IIT Kanpur who The Quint spoke to said that some light form of ragging usually happens in hostels at night, and that the freshers can leave if they are not feeling comfortable.
Another student, speaking to The Quint on the condition of anonymity, claimed that while he was not present at the time of the incident, others told him that a bunch of juniors were asked to give their introductions by seniors on the day of the alleged incident. However, when some of them did not comply, they were verbally abused.
However, the students did reiterate that the interactions between juniors and seniors on the campus are usually amicable.
Recounting his personal experience, a student told The Quint that his interactions with the seniors have generally been “playful”.
Another said that senior students are generally quite helpful, guiding the freshers in academics as well as extra-curricular activities.
Even as students stressed the fact that interactions with seniors have usually been “healthy”, professor Sanghi's blog post on the abuse triggered several responses on social media.
One of the comments attributed the occurrence of such incidents to a "systematic failure", calling the system one "which has allowed students to form false notions about what is acceptable due to not calling it out the first time it occurred".
Another called the incident as one "unheard of in our times", and advocated "strictest punishment" against the second year students involved.
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