Twenty-two second year B.Tech students of IIT-Kanpur have been suspended for ragging their juniors. The decision was taken by the institution's senate, the apex decision-making body of the institution, on Monday.
While 16 students have been suspended for a period of three years, the other six have been suspended for a year, The Times of India reported. The students can continue their students only after the end of their suspension period.
"These students will not be allowed to stay on campus and can resume studies when their suspension ends. The decision taken today would send a strong message to students to say no to ragging and maintain decorum," professor Manindra Agarwal, deputy director of IIT-K, told the publication.
The senate, however, decided not to file a police complaint keeping in view that the future of the students could be jeopardised.
Around 30 junior students approached the Dean of Student Affairs and filed a complaint against 50 seniors, stating that the latter had ragged them on August 20.
According to a report by the Hindustan Times, the junior students alleged that the senior students made them strip and do other objectionable acts to each other. They were also abused and thrashed and this was recorded on mobile phones, which was later circulated on social media groups.
Soon after the allegations were reported, Dheeraj Sanghi, a professor of Computer Science at IIT-Kanpur, wrote a blog stating that the "whole thesis that ragging is good for first-year students and there is no better way to forge friendships is plain and simple bullshit".
Read his full blog here: 'Thesis that ragging is good for first year students is simple bulls***t': An IIT-K professor writes