Five college students booked below POCSO Act for ragging in Berhampur school, 12 handed TC

By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR: The alleged incident of ragging on the government-run Binayak Acharya College at Berhampur took a brand new flip after Berhampur Police booked all of the 5 college students who have been arrested earlier on Wednesday below the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Cases below part 12 of the POCSO Act moreover the IT Act have been slapped in opposition to all of the accused, two of whom are minors and will likely be produced earlier than the Juvenile Justice Board.

While two of them are college students of the establishment’s increased secondary college, the remainder are learning in Plus III. The principal accused is Abhishek Nahak (24), a Plus III ultimate yr scholar whereas the sufferer – a minor – is a Plus II first yr scholar who had joined the faculty a month again.

The video which went viral triggering outrage confirmed 12 college students, together with 4 women, rag the sufferer. All of them college students of Plus II and III got obligatory switch certificates (TC) by the faculty. None of the scholars can now take admission to any school or avail diploma from every other instructional institute.

“Police have initiated criminal proceedings against the five accused, while the college has ordered to hand over compulsory TC to all the 12 students who are seen in the video, on disciplinary grounds on Friday,” mentioned principal of the faculty Pramila Khadanga.

The determination got here after a gathering of the principal with Berhampur SP Sarvana Vivek M and establishment’s anti-ragging and disciplinary motion committees. The 5 to 7 minute-long video of the sufferer being ragged by the group of scholars and sexually harassed by one amongst them, went viral on Wednesday.

Soon after it got here to the discover of Berhampur Police, cops instantly knowledgeable the principal and nabbed 5 of the accused recognized from the video. Nahak, reportedly a Biju Chhatra Janata Dal member, was additionally nominated to the campus committee of the faculty by the coed’s wing of the ruling social gathering. Sources mentioned he allegedly requested one of many boys (additionally a Plus II first yr scholar) of the group to kiss the sufferer whereas the others harassed her and recorded the video.

This is the second time a felony case has been filed in opposition to Nahak who was arrested in March this yr for assaulting and molesting a lady in his neighbourhood at Bada Bazaar space in Berhampur over private enmity. He was out on bail.

“Initially we thought three of them were minors but after age verification, it came to fore that two were below the age of 18. The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon near the college gate during the lunch hour and the video went viral in the night,” the SP knowledgeable.

While initially a ragging case was filed, Sarvana knowledgeable that solely after the traumatised sufferer was counselled, she agreed to report the incident which got here below the POCSO Act.

Meanwhile, the SP has determined to open a devoted helpline that will likely be used to report solely ragging incidents in instructional institutes of Berhampur, inside just a few days. “A DSP ranking officer will handle the helpline and any ragging case reported will be immediately taken up for investigation,” mentioned the SP.

BHUBANESWAR/BERHAMPUR: The alleged incident of ragging on the government-run Binayak Acharya College at Berhampur took a brand new flip after Berhampur Police booked all of the 5 college students who have been arrested earlier on Wednesday below the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Cases below part 12 of the POCSO Act moreover the IT Act have been slapped in opposition to all of the accused, two of whom are minors and will likely be produced earlier than the Juvenile Justice Board.

While two of them are college students of the establishment’s increased secondary college, the remainder are learning in Plus III. The principal accused is Abhishek Nahak (24), a Plus III ultimate yr scholar whereas the sufferer – a minor – is a Plus II first yr scholar who had joined the faculty a month again.

The video which went viral triggering outrage confirmed 12 college students, together with 4 women, rag the sufferer. All of them college students of Plus II and III got obligatory switch certificates (TC) by the faculty. None of the scholars can now take admission to any school or avail diploma from every other instructional institute.

“Police have initiated criminal proceedings against the five accused, while the college has ordered to hand over compulsory TC to all the 12 students who are seen in the video, on disciplinary grounds on Friday,” mentioned principal of the faculty Pramila Khadanga.

The determination got here after a gathering of the principal with Berhampur SP Sarvana Vivek M and establishment’s anti-ragging and disciplinary motion committees. The 5 to 7 minute-long video of the sufferer being ragged by the group of scholars and sexually harassed by one amongst them, went viral on Wednesday.

Soon after it got here to the discover of Berhampur Police, cops instantly knowledgeable the principal and nabbed 5 of the accused recognized from the video. Nahak, reportedly a Biju Chhatra Janata Dal member, was additionally nominated to the campus committee of the faculty by the coed’s wing of the ruling social gathering. Sources mentioned he allegedly requested one of many boys (additionally a Plus II first yr scholar) of the group to kiss the sufferer whereas the others harassed her and recorded the video.

This is the second time a felony case has been filed in opposition to Nahak who was arrested in March this yr for assaulting and molesting a lady in his neighbourhood at Bada Bazaar space in Berhampur over private enmity. He was out on bail.

“Initially we thought three of them were minors but after age verification, it came to fore that two were below the age of 18. The incident took place on Tuesday afternoon near the college gate during the lunch hour and the video went viral in the night,” the SP knowledgeable.

While initially a ragging case was filed, Sarvana knowledgeable that solely after the traumatised sufferer was counselled, she agreed to report the incident which got here below the POCSO Act.

Meanwhile, the SP has determined to open a devoted helpline that will likely be used to report solely ragging incidents in instructional institutes of Berhampur, inside just a few days. “A DSP ranking officer will handle the helpline and any ragging case reported will be immediately taken up for investigation,” mentioned the SP.