Kalpetta: Police have registered cases against five students of the Government Higher Secondary School, Kaniyampatta, near here, for the brutal ragging of a Plus 1 student after he refused to shave his moustache and beard.  

Shayas, 16, a native of Kaniyampatta, is undergoing treatment at the Taluk Hospital in Vythiri. He was admitted to the hospital after he was brutally beaten by a four-member gang of senior students, according to police. The case was registered based on his complaint.

Shayas received admission to the science batch on Monday. He told police that the seniors started ragging on the same day. Seniors demanded that Shayas shave his beard and moustache. On Tuesday, when he went to school with his beard shaved, the gang beat him up brutally. In his complaint, he said that seniors beat him all over his body and also kicked him in the stomach and back.  

Relatives said Shayas is experiencing extreme back pain and pain in the abdomen."If the police fail to take strict action, we will be forced to take other legal ways," said Safeela, the boy's mother.

Inspector M A Santhosh of Kaniyampatta confirmed to Onmanorama that cases were registered against all five students named by the boy. "If any of them is underage, they will be treated under the Juvenile Justice Act," he said.