UP: Freshers with shaved heads parade at Saifai medical varsity

The matter came to light with the emergence of a video that showed the students, in white coats and with bags on their backs, moving in a queue and saluting. The video, in which the heads of the students were tonsured, went viral on Tuesday. In the video, the students are seen passing a security guard.

District Magistrate of Etawah, Jitendra Bahadur Singh, told The Indian Express on Wednesday, “The allegation of ragging has been found to be true in the preliminary inquiry and it has been found that the university authorities are hiding the incident. The report has been sent to the government.”

The preliminary inquiry was conducted by a committee comprising Sub-Divisional Magistrate Hem Singh and Circle Officer Massa Singh.

“I had ordered an inquiry on the basis of media reports. The committee submitted its report this evening,” said the DM.

The university’s registrar Suresh Chandra, however, said those seen in the video are first semester students of MBBS and they joined the college this month. Their hostels are some distance away from the hostels of senior students, he said.

“The Vice-Chancellor had asked me to conduct an inquiry and submit a report at the earliest. As part of the preliminary inquiry, we spoke to all the freshers. They denied that their heads were shaved as part of ragging. There is no question of ragging on the campus because every hostel has a warden and a security guard. No student has lodged any kind of complaint with the warden,” said the registrar.

“I have directed the university’s anti-ragging committee to conduct a detailed inquiry and submit a report at the earliest,” said the registrar.

The registrar also said that it had come to light during the preliminary inquiry that all students got their heads shaved at different times. “Some of them got their head shaved before joining the campus. Except for one, no other student got his head tonsured at Saifai,” he said.

There are nearly 1,200 students in the university, the registrar said.

The university’s associate professor Dr Naresh Pal Singh, who is also a member of the anti-ragging committee, said, “Few students claimed that they got their heads shaved because of the summer heat and some cited hair loss. So far, no one has said he got his head shaved because of ragging.”

Circle Officer Massa Singh said, “During inquiry, no student admitted to getting his head shaved due to ragging. Since there is no complaint, no action could be taken. No student submitted a complaint during inquiry. We recorded statements of almost all freshers and found their heads shaved.”

SSP, Etawah, Santosh Kumar Mishra said they have not received any complaint from the university so far.