MNLU Anti-Ragging Committee convenes to examine June incident after protests questioning hurried FIR

The Maharashtra National Law Univesity (MNLU), Nagpur's Anti-Ragging Committee convened on Tuesday over allegations of four students ragging a junior.

The meeting came four days after the university approached the police with a complaint against the four students and about two weeks after the alleged incident itself.

As per sources at the university, the Anti-Ragging Committee had not carried out an inquiry before the police complaint was filed.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), the case was registered on July 10 at 10 PM. It invoked Sections 3 and 4 of the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act, with Sections 5 and 8 of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act.

The FIR was lodged by Prof. (Dr) Vijay Pratap Tiwari. It names four residents of the boys hostel as accused.

As per the complaint, the incident took place on the night of June 25, when a junior student was called to a senior's hostel room along with several other juniors and made to introduce himself in Hindi, Marathi and English.

The complainant's written statement, submitted to the university on July 8, claims that he was made to perform physical exercises and repeat obscene language whenever he mispronounced a word. He stated that he did not report the matter immediately out of apprehensions of how the seniors involved may react, and came forward only after a fellow student referred to the incident in front of others on July 1.

The complaint cites Regulation 7 and Regulation 9 of the UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009, as its basis for approaching the police.

After the four accused were summoned and allegedly detained by the police, hundreds of students gathered on campus to protest the act of filing a police complaint without an internal inquiry.

The demonstration began on the night of July 11 and continued into July 12. As per the students, the police complaint and the treatment of the four students amounted to disproportionate and vindictive action.

Nishant Meshram, Police Inspector at Bori police station, denied that the students had been detained and said that the matter involved only a preliminary inquiry and the issue of notices to the accused.

Students said the university's Registrar assured them that despite the FIR, the university would extend legal help and would not let it affect their academic standing.