Kottayam ragging: No criminal history for accused, did it for pleasure of torture, say police

Kottayam Police, probing the horrific ragging incident at the Government Nursing College here, have not come across any criminal antecedents related to the five students who were arrested on Wednesday. The students who were arrested on charges of ragging six juniors have been remanded into judicial custody. In addition to ragging, they face charges of causing hurt using dangerous weapons, criminal intimidation and extortion, charges usually associated with seasoned goons. "It wasn't like they did it under the influence of drugs. It was their first time, there were no priors, they did it for the sheer pleasure of torture. They targeted the juniors one by one," a police official said.

The first information report (FIR) filed by the police lists incidents of torture meted out to two students, Libin L and Amal. The police said that four other students were also tortured for three months. According to the FIR, the accused placed a knife on the neck of Amal and threatened him, saying that he didn't respect the seniors enough. Once, they barged into Libin's room, asked him to lie down, tied his arms and legs with a cloth, daubed his body with lotion and pricked him with a divider. They recorded the whole act on their mobile phones. The police produced the video clips in the court after recovering from the students' mobile phones. Even two days ago, Amal was summoned to the seniors' room and was asked to kneel, and he was slapped.

Lekshmana Perumal, an ex-soldier and father of Libin L, one of the nursing students who was subjected to unspeakable torture by seniors at Kottayam nursing college men's hostel, didn't suspect anything unusual whenever his son came home or spoke to him over the phone. It was only when he received a call from one of the college staff that Perumal could fathom what Libin and his five friends went through every night for the last three months in the hostel room. A college faculty rang Perumal on Tuesday and asked if Libin had told him anything. "I was completely in the dark. The faculty said that they were being hurt for three months and a complaint was filed with police. When I asked Libin about this, he said he was too scared to speak up. The seniors had threatened him and his friends," said Perumal, a resident of Elappara, Idukki.

Perumal, who put on a bold face despite being shaken by the gravity of the incident, asked how the college authorities let such horrific incidents happen in a hostel. "What was the warden doing? What about other authorities? They called me yesterday and said my son was being tortured. What kind of a system is this?" asked Perumal, who will meet the college authorities on Thursday.

Libin reportedly told Perumal that one of his friends was so much in pain two days ago that they decided to report the matter to one of the faculties. "They kept it to themselves for three months. My son joined the college with high hopes, he didn't want to bother us, and he bore with the torture," said Perumal.