Hyderabad, June 17 (IANS) The Hyderabad Police have booked 12 students of Government Dental College on allegations of ragging their juniors.

The incident was reported on the hostel premises of Osmania Medical College, with allegations that first-year students of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) were harassed by senior students.

Following a complaint lodged by the college principal, Dr Sanjeev Singh Yadav, a case against 12 final-year students was registered at Sultan Bazar Police Station under the Telangana Prohibition of Ragging Act.

The students of Government Dental College are currently accommodated in the Osmania Medical College hostel, where the alleged incident of ragging took place.

Taking a serious view of the incident, the college administration initiated disciplinary action and suspended six final-year BDS students for six months pending further inquiry. They allegedly subjected their juniors to physical and mental harassment.

Police counselled those involved in the incident and are conducting further investigation. Police said they are examining whether more students were involved in the ragging incident.

With this incident, the menace of ragging has once again raised its head in the educational institutions.

Officials stated that the anti-ragging committee has been further strengthened to prevent the recurrence of such incidents at the college.

The Principal has warned that any student engaging in ragging would face severe consequences, including permanent expulsion from the college and strict legal punishment that could ruin their future. He advised junior students not to be afraid and focus on their studies.

It was in 1997 that the combined state of Andhra Pradesh brought the Andhra Pradesh Prohibition of Ragging Act to ban the practice both inside and outside educational institutions.

If students are convicted of an offence under the Act and punished with imprisonment for a term, they will be dismissed from the educational institution. If a student is convicted and punished for a term of more than six months, he will not be admitted in any other educational institution in the state.

The Act also provides that in case of a student involved in ragging, there shall be an embossment on his marks cards and other academic certificates in bold letters that he had indulged in ragging.

–IANS

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