Kasaragod: Thirteen senior students of Government College, Kasaragod, have been suspended for two weeks following a complaint alleging that a first-year undergraduate student was ragged and assaulted on the campus.

The alleged incident took place on July 13, seven days after the classes for the first-year students started, said college principal Anil Kumar V S.

According to the complaint, a group of students from the second and third years waylaid the first-year student and threatened and assaulted him on the campus. The student later informed his parents, following which a complaint was lodged with the college principal.

Anil Kumar said that as soon as the college received the complaint, the anti-ragging committee was convened, and they interviewed the seniors named in the complaint. “The seniors have denied the allegations. But we are taking the complaint seriously and have suspended the 13 students for two weeks, pending inquiry,” said Anil Kumar. The seniors are from different disciplines, said the principal.

The principal said the anti-ragging committee has not yet established whether the incident amounted to ragging, and would continue its inquiry.

He said he forwarded the complaint to the Kasaragod Town police.

Class 9 student assaulted by seniors
A Class IX student was admitted to the hospital after he was allegedly assaulted by a group of Class X students while returning home from school.

The injured student has been identified as Mohammed Jedim (14), a student of Government Higher Secondary School, Paivalige.

His father, Jalaluddin from Paivalige, said Jedim was waylaid by the senior students and assaulted. The boy suffered injuries to his neck and chest. He was initially given first aid before being shifted to the Taluk Hospital in Mangalpady, after doctors found his injuries to be serious.