Kanpur:

An FIR was registered on Thursday against eight final-year engineering students of Harcourt Butler Technical University (HBTU) on the charge of attempt to murder for allegedly beating their juniors when they did not adhere to their instructions to “remove clothes”.

The FIR has been registered against the seniors by a third-year student of BTech Electronics at Nawabganj police station, under BNS sections 109 (attempt to murder), 115 (2) voluntarily causes hurt, 125 (an act so rashly as to endanger human life), 191 (2) rioting, 351 (3) criminal intimidation and 352 (intentionally insults) apart from ragging charges in this connection, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Dinesh Tripathi said.

All those named in the FIR are fourth-year students.

In his FIR, the student alleged that his classmate got a call from seniors to come with him and another classmate to Abdul Kalam Hostel to enjoy a ‘birthday party” which is a “code language” for ragging.

The situation escalated when the seniors asked them to take off their clothes, which they refused. “We told them that they should be spared as they had already faced ragging in the first year of their admission. Angry over the refusal, the seniors came with sticks, belts, and iron rods and started beating them,” the FIR said.

Instructions have been issued to call the accused students. They will be questioned to work out the case, the DCP said.

The HBTU administration has also started the inquiry into the matter to ascertain whether it was a ragging case or not, said an official.

In ragging, generally, first-year students are victims but in this case, the FIR was lodged by the third-year student against final-year students, he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)