Boy in mental hospital after being forced to strip

COLLECTED BY: RISHI KAPOOR

Sanjay Pal Singh, a postgraduate computer student of the Sahara College of Management is lying in the psychiatry ward of Lucknow medical college.

Harassed, stripped, beaten by other students of the private hostel he was staying in, Sanjay broke down.

Says his father, Ajay Singh, "He was harassed, he was stripped and he lost his mental balance."

A resident of Bareilly, Sanjay had recently come to Lucknow. The private hostel he stayed in had students from a number of different colleges.

Sanjay was constantly harassed and threatened by the others. He turned violent, developed an acute fear psychosis and had to be hospitalised.

Says his local guardian, Sudhakar Singh, "He was issued all sorts of threats by other students."

Adds SSP Lucknow, Akhil Kumar, "The police have registered an FIR against three of Sanjay's hostel mates."

Sanjay's condition is now improving but he is in no state to go back to his studies.

It has been more than six years since the Supreme Court set strict guidelines to check the menace of ragging. The time has come when firm action must be taken not only against the students who indulge in ragging but also against the authorities who fail to prevent such ugly incidents.