Andhra Pradesh: Anantapur police to conduct special drive against ragging at educational institutions

TIRUPATI: Anantapur SP Dr Kaginelli Fakeerappa said that the district police wing which has zero tolerance against ragging will soon embark on a special drive to sensitize the student fraternity across the district on the harsh repercussions of indulging in ragging related activities.
The decision comes in the wake of the suspension of 18 students at the Jawaharlal Nehru technological university at Anantapur on Monday.
First year freshers at the Anantapur engineering college were reportedly frisked away to the Gurukula hostel on February 4th night and seniors made some of the juniors strip and stand half naked as ragging went on unabated the whole night.
Though the ugly ragging incident reportedly took place on February 4th, the incident came to light only after the parents of a first year student lodged a formal complaint with the college academic council of the JNTU.
The council, which concluded after a detailed enquiry that ragging did take place at the Gurukula hostel, suspended 18 students of the second year engineering on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Anantapur district police took suo motu cognizance of the case and a DSP rank officer was appointed to probe into the incident even though no complaint was lodged either by the victims or by the college management.
Speaking to TOI, Anantapur SP Dr Kaginelli Fakeerappa said that the district police wing conducts anti-ragging awareness programmes for students at the beginning of every academic year. "We will strictly ensure that no ragging related activities are reported anywhere in the district. We will step up vigil and conduct awareness programmes for the student fraternity across the district soon", Anantapur SP asserted.