Mumbai: Seven students of top architecture institute booked for ragging

In August this year, the accused allegedly told the victim that they left her name out of a group assignment being submitted. They eventually agreed to include her name on the condition that she dance for them. As the assignment was part of an annual assessment, the victim obliged, the police said. The accused recorded the act and subsequently posted it on their college WhatsApp group. They titled the video ‘ragging’ and even circulated it on Snapchat, the police said.

In a separate incident, the victim learnt through her friend that somebody had posted a morphed photograph of her on Tinder. The victim then began to slip into depression, the police said. The case came to light when her parents questioned her about bunking lectures. “Her parents inquired with the college and found she had been absent for a very long time. The victim then confided in her parents and told them about the ragging episode. They then lodged a complaint with the college, which referred the matter to the anti-ragging committee. The committee found substance in her complaint, which was then forwarded to the Dadar police station where a case has been registered,” said an official.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Dadar division) Sunil Deshmukh said a complaint under certain sections of the Indian Penal Code and those of the Anti-Ragging Act has been registered. “A case under Section 354 (A) (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 500 (punishment for defamation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 34 (common intent) under the IPC and Section 4 of the Anti-Ragging Act has been invoked against the accused and investigations are under way,” he said. “As far as the complaint pertaining to uploading an offensive picture on a dating application is concerned a case has been registered with the Shivaji Park police station and that too is being probed,” said Deshmukh.

Another senior official said in the ragging case, the Dadar police were in the process of recording the statement of the accused before deciding on the next course of action. “We have received the report submitted by the anti-ragging committee of the institute. We have started recording the statement of the accused,” added the official.