Tura: West Garo Hills (WGH) police is set to launch an investigation into the case of ragging at the NEHU Tura campus. This comes in response to the victim filing a ‘Zero’ FIR in Nagaland.
A ‘Zero FIR’ is a special provision that lets anyone report a crime at any police station, no matter where it happened. It is termed “Zero” as it does not bear any jurisdictional constraints and can be registered immediately.
On Oct 8, a group of 5-6 seniors from the Arbella Hostel (Tura) allegedly called out the victim from his room before forcing the 1st-semester student in Agri Business Management to strip completely for their entertainment. They later threatened the student with dire consequences if he were to complain about the incident to anyone.
During the abuse, there was no power supply, and the perpetrators used the flash of their mobile phones to record the incident as well as hide their identities. The incident left the student in tears, after which he left the hostel to return to his home in Nagaland.
Following the incident, the NSU lodged a complaint. NEHU officials from the Tura campus launched an investigation following a complaint by the victim. However, due to the victim’s absence from the institute’s premises, they claimed that the perpetrators could not be identified. The university has also faced accusations of attempting to hush up the matter.
Campus in-charge, Sujata Gurudev, stated that they have left the investigation to the police as they were unable to determine the perpetrators of the traumatic incident that left the victim emotionally scarred. Following the incident, the victim has apparently withdrawn himself.
Another fact-finding team from the Shillong campus, led by a dean, also paid a visit to the campus to determine exactly what took place, although the details of their findings are yet to be revealed.
Regarding the development in the case, Superintendent of Police, WGH, Abraham T. Sangma, stated that the investigation will now be taken up by the police after an FIR was lodged in Nagaland.
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“I have been sent an email copy of the FIR, and we are going to investigate the matter and ensure it is probed thoroughly. We will try to get to the bottom of this,” informed the SP.
Tension has been brewing at the NEHU Tura campus, with widespread condemnation coming in against those responsible, including the administrators.
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