Odisha govt orders probe into ragging incident in VSSUT

Bhubaneswar:

The Odisha government on Thursday ordered an inquiry into alleged incident of ragging of junior students by their seniors at the prestigious Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) at Sambalpur.

The government action came after the alleged incident of ragging, involving about 50 junior engineering students, came to the fore after a video went viral on social media recently.

The video purportedly shows that the junior students were made to dance by holding their ears. They were also beaten up by the senior students.

It also shows a junior student’s shirt being ripped off by a senior student.

The ragging took place at a function that was organised to welcome the junior students.

“The registrar of the VVSUT has been asked to conduct a probe into the alleged incident and action will be taken after receiving the report,” Skill Development & Technical Education Minister Premanand Nayak told reporters.

The vice-chancellor of VSSUT, Atal Choudhury, denied having any knowledge about the incident.

“We will inquire into the incident,” he said.

A similar incident happened in the institute last year.

The authorities had initiated action against 20 students.