Five third-year nursing students have been arrested for their involvement in ragging first-year students at the Government Nursing College, as confirmed by local police on Wednesday. The arrest followed a formal complaint lodged by three first-year students, revealing that the abuse had been ongoing for nearly three months.
According to the complaint, the ragging began in November and involved severe physical and psychological abuse. The victims were allegedly forced to stand naked and subjected to brutal attacks using dumbbells meant for weightlifting. The ragging also included injuries inflicted with compasses and other sharp objects, followed by the application of lotion on the open wounds.
In addition, the juniors were coerced into having cream applied to their faces, heads, and mouths. The senior students reportedly extorted money from the victims every Sunday to purchase alcohol and frequently assaulted them. After enduring this harassment for an extended period, three of the first-year students were finally able to report the incidents to the Kottayam Gandhinagar police, leading to the arrests.