Guwahati, Apr 2: Atleast eighteen students of National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Assam’s Silchar have been booked under several sections of Indian Penal Code for allegedly beating two juniors violently inside the campus.
The incident happened on March 31 and the fourth semester student of NIT Silchar, Siddhant Paityajunior student was rushed to Silchar Medical College and Hospitals (SMCH) in critical condition. Paitya lodged an FIR against 18 seniors at Ghungoor Police Outpost on Saturday with the help of his family members.
He said that he was bullied by a section of seniors on the basis of his mother tongue and the area he comes from. On Tuesday night, he stayed at the NIT campus and parked his car in front of hostel-6. The seniors damaged the car just to bully him, according to him.
“I have been facing racist comments since the day I joined here. They damaged my car on that day and when I asked them about it, they started hitting me. For almost an hour they continued the violence,” he said.
“They used racist slangs, slapped and kicked me, broken three glass bottles on my head and my back. My friend tried to save me and he was also beaten. At one point, I thought I’d die,” Paitya added.
Siddhant’s mother said that there are severe cuts and injuries on his body and he went CTScan and other tests. She said, “It was a horrifying incident and authorities should look into this carefully before something bigger happens.”
In the FIR, Siddhant named Sparsh Munakhia, Yogesh Kakodiys, Biswajit Deb Nath, Yash Tripartite, Abhijeet Kalita, Dhritiman Das, Sourav Deka, Shohan Paul, Pratyush Rai, Prafful Chatham, Anas Ahmed, Prateek vij, Dixit Agarwal, Mehul Dewangam, Raj Parishad, Satyabrata Both, Suprateek Gogoi, Biki Das as prime accused. He said that some more seniors were also involved.
The superintendent of police of Cachar district Numal Mahatta said that they are registering a case based on the complainant recived from the second year student. They are in discussion with the NIT Silchar authorities as well.
“We have received the complaint and we are registering a case. This is an internal issue of NIT and we have to discuss with the authorities of the institute to proceed further,” Mahatta said.
NIT Silchar authorities called it an “unfortunate” incident. A team headed by the dean of the Students’ Welfare Department is investigating the matter. Additionally, the authorities have dissolved the Gymkhana and cancelled students’ election.
The director of NIT Silchar, professor Rajat Gupta however refused to comment on this issue. He suggested the media to talk to the deans instead.
Last year nine final year student were booked for assaulting a junior inside the hostel and they were later removed from the campus. However, no further actions were taken.
