NEHU ragging horror: Student from Nagaland made to dance nude

In an absolute shocker, a 1st year student of Department of Agri Business Management from Nagaland who recently joined the Arabella hostel for boys in the NEHU Tura campus was allegedly ragged and made to dance nude by a group of 5-6 boys from within the same hostel campus.

The incident came to light after the student wrote a formal complaint to the proctor of the hostel Dr Gino Sangma following which NEHU authorities launched an internal investigation into the matter.

The incident comes close on the heels of the assault case of a Class XI student in JNV – Williamnagar which saw many of those that assaulted the victim removed from the school while others were placed on suspension.

According to the complaint by the student, the incident took place during the night of October 8. Given below is a gist of the complaint made by the student.

The student stated that on October 8, at around 1 AM he was called from his room by a group of 5 seniors after they knocked on his door. His roommate was fast asleep at the time and there was no electricity for the victim to identify his abusers.

“It was my first day and night in the hostel, for which reason I had no acquaintance with the hostellers and no familiarity with the hostel. Around 1 AM, some guys came knocking on my door. I opened with courtesy and with no inkling of what was to happen. There was no power at that time and as I opened the door, the guys had their phone flashlights pointed on me for which reason I could not identify their faces nor identify the exact number of the guys that came to me,” said the student in his complaint.

The seniors apparently asked him if he was a junior and asked him to come out of his room.

“I expected them to call my roommate as well as we are the same batch but I was called out alone. They took me to an empty room which one of the guys locked after we entered. They asked me to introduce myself and I did so twice in English. They all spoke in Hindi, and told me to introduce myself in Hindi but they did not like the introduction since I was not fluent with the language,” added the student.

The student was then asked to do a nude dance for the sake of the senior student which he refused but was threatened. Fearful and traumatized, he opened his shirt and was then asked to drop his shorts. One of the seniors pulled down his under garments with the seniors then flashing their phone lights at him. They even went on to threaten him with having to leave the hostel the next day if he did not entertain them.

“I was so traumatized and utterly terrified as I broke down in tears. They warned and threatened me that they will expose me if I report the incident to anyone. They told me to leave after threatening me. Even as I was leaving, they threatened me again not to close my room door,” he added.

“I realized I was their only target as they did not call my roommate and did not sleep a wink through the night. My roommate stated that he did not hear anything and was asleep. I didn’t trust him so did not narrate the night’s incident to him,” he added.

Following the incident, the student informed his family of the matter and immediately left for his home.
Informing about the incident, campus in-charge NEHU, Tura, Sujata Gurudev stated that hostel proctor, Dr Gino Sangma, who is also the head of the department was called by someone asking if he was aware of a case of ragging.

“Immediately after he reached the hostel along with the warden and began to question everyone. However initially there was no formal complaint. The proctor called the student and urged him to send one. Even before the complaint an investigation by us has been launched and all students of the hostel thoroughly questioned,” informed the campus in-charge.

She added that despite their best efforts, they were unable to identify the perpetrators as the student in question has not been in the mental frame to speak following the incident.

“Everyone is cooperating and everyone’s phones have been checked. We even asked him to identify the perpetrators through video call but he has not been able to manage. This matter has also been taken up by the Campus Disciplinary Committee (CDC) but they too have drawn a blank. We are hoping the victim can come and identify who it was,” she added.

A team from the Shillong campus is apparently also in Tura following the incident to ascertain facts.

“We have done our best and found nothing. A police team was here earlier and as such we would request the police to come forward and take up the investigation as this is a criminal case and they would be the best people to handle such sensitive issues,” said Sujata Gurudev.

Superintendent of Police, WGH, Abraham T Sangma, earlier today informed that a police team reached NEHU, Tura but were told that an internal inquiry was still on. He added that the matter would be taken up by them following the conclusion of the internal investigation.

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