A shocking case of ragging emerged from Andhra Pradesh's Sri Subbaraya and Narayana College, videos of which went viral on social media, prompting swift action.
As per media reports, six persons have been identified and of them, one has been arrested. Seniors of the college attacked the junior students in the name of 'ragging'.
The videos shows four men with lathis beating six young men one-by-one. The assault seems to have taken place inside a hostel room, where each victim is brought in, told to lie face down on a mattress and then thrashed with lathis by the seniors.
The six young men had been lured to the room on the pretext of training for the National Cadet Corps (NCC), NDTV reported.
Reportedly, the incident, which took place in February, has come to light only now as the videos went viral on social media. The junior students, the victims of the 'ragging', had backed off from filing a complaint due to fear of any retaliatory action.
Police Inspector (One Town Police Station), Krishna Reddy, has urged students and everyone else in the college to report assault or abuse incidents which were masked as 'ragging'.
The students, seen thrashing their juniors in the video, have since graduated from college. One of them has been arrested on charges under the Prohibition of Ragging Act. Others involved in the matter also face similar charges.
However, this horrific incident sparked a war of words between the opposition former chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's YSR Congress Party and the ruling Telugu Desam Party.
YSRCP tagged Home Minister Anitha Vangalapudi in its post while sharing the video of the incident on the microblogging site X. They told her, "this is the law and order situation in our state".
"Ragging is increasing like never before in Andhra Pradesh! Junior students under NCC training at SSN college in Palnadu district Narasaraoept. At midnight, students were greeted by the bells and whistles," the party wrote in a X post in Telugu.
Promptly responding to YSRCP's allegations, Vangalapudi said, "the state Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has issued orders on the ragging incident". She also noted that the accused would face charges under the SC/ST Act as well.
The Home Minister highlighted that the incident took place under the YSRCP government, noting that TDP formed its government after winning the election in June.
"By making such false allegations, people are being harassed by the party. No. We will take strict action against those who commit wrong in the matter of law and order," she added.
