A nursing student, a poor Dalit girl hailing from Malappuram district in Kerala, has been admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode with severe burn injuries in her throat and esophagus after her seniors in a private nursing college in Gulbarga, Karnataka, allegedly forced her to drink bathroom cleaner as part of ragging.
Doctors at the hospital were quoted as saying that the 19-year-old Dalit girl from Kalady, Edappal in Malappuram district was in a very serious condition and would not be able to have normal food for at least the next six months. Presently the girl is being fed food in liquid form through the tube inserted through her neck.
According to the victim, the leaders of the group of seniors who ragged her brutally were two Keralites, one from Kollam and the other from Idukki, both third year students. The incident is said to have taken place on the night of May 9 and it was other fellow-students who had taken the girl to a nearby hospital.
“It was severe torture they had inflicted on me,” the victim told newsmen at the Kozhikode hospital, adding that there were eight seniors in the group. “They forced me to drink bathroom cleaner. Other students made me vomit the solution and I vomited blood. I haven’t been able to have any food for the past 42 days,” she said.
“She can’t eat or drink anything. She can’t even swallow the saliva. She has to spit it out. I don’t know when she will be able to drink at least some water,” said the girl’s mother while relatives said that the doctors at the hospital had suggested shifting her to some specialty hospital for continued treatment.
The ragging victim also said that the senior students used to insult her by calling her a Dalit with references to her family background. As per reports, the Karnataka Police had not been able to record her statement as she was unable to speak for the five days she was at the Gulbarga hospital undergoing treatment.
The girl had spent four days in the ICU and one day at the casualty section of the Gulbarga hospital but she was brought her back to Kerala as there was no improvement in her condition. She was admitted to a hospital at her native place, Edappal, but the doctors there advised the relatives to shift her to the Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode.
According to the victim, the senior students had tortured her had threatened her of dire consequences if she revealed anything about their involvement. They were still studying in the same college without any problem, said relatives of the girl, adding that the college authorities had not bothered even to enquire about the matter.
It is also said that the senior students who had subjected her to brutal ragging had videographed the incident and had been making jokes over it. The Dalit girl had joined the private nursing college in Gulbarga by remitting a fee of Rs75,000 which was part of a Rs4-lakh loan she had availed for her studies. State SC-ST and Backward Classes Welfare Minister AK Balan said the Government would bear all expenses of the treatment.