February 12, 2025: In a shocking case of ragging, five third-year nursing students from Government Nursing College, Kottayam, have been arrested for allegedly subjecting their juniors to months of extreme physical and mental torture. The victims, all first-year students from Thiruvananthapuram, lodged a formal complaint with the Kottayam Gandhinagar police, detailing the horrific abuse they endured.

According to the complaint, the seniors forced the juniors to strip naked and hung dumbbells from their private parts. The victims were also stabbed with geometry box compasses and beaten severely over a period of three months, starting from November 2024. The accused allegedly applied lotion to the wounds to intensify the pain and even smeared it into the victims’ mouths when they cried out.

The juniors were also reportedly extorted for money every Sunday to fund their seniors’ alcohol consumption. Those who refused faced further physical assault. The abuse came to light when one of the victims, unable to endure the harassment any longer, informed his father, who then urged him to file a police complaint.

Following the complaint, the accused students were suspended and subsequently arrested under the Anti-Ragging Act. They are currently in police custody and are expected to be presented before a magistrate by Wednesday afternoon.

This incident has sparked outrage, coming just weeks after a 15-year-old schoolboy in Kochi died by suicide, allegedly due to severe ragging. The repeated occurrences of such violent incidents have raised serious concerns about student safety and the effectiveness of anti-ragging measures in educational institutions.