MCI members meet Rims students

RANCHI: A three-member MCI team arrived at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) college on Saturday to hear first hand accounts from students who were ragged in January. Responding to a written complaint by Rims students to the national anti-ragging cell of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the MCI on January 30, the team comprising Dr Ajay Kumar, Dr Anilbhai Jaideo Nayak and Dr Ashok Harit arrived at Rims at noon.
The team took an overview of the incident from Rims acting director Dr S K Choudhary before speaking to each victim individually for two hours.
“We were asked to narrate the entire incident and the issue that sparked the fight,” said Harihar, a 2013 batch MBBS student. In addition to the seven victims, 77 others who had complained to the MCI of being subjected to repeated ragging by a group of students over a period of time, were also questioned. The students handed over audio recordings, video clippings and text messages to consolidate their claim. However, none of the accused were questioned.
On January 25, a group of students (from different batches) from scheduled caste and tribe backgrounds had ragged their juniors in the hostels.
Rims students had claimed ragging based on ethnicity is an everyday affair in the hostels and they had lodged a complaint with the MCI. Learning of the development, the perpetrators had thrashed seven students in the hostels on February 4.
The clash resulted in suspension of classes. Academics resumed a month later under police vigil. The Medical Council of India (MCI) had started its probe into incident in February.
“Based on the inputs, a report will be submitted to the MCI executive committee that will further determine the course of action,” a team member said. If proven guilty, the state’s premier medical college, fresh after retaining 60 seats from MCI axe, could land in trouble again and face disciplinary action.
Earlier, the police top brass and health department officials met Choudhary to discuss improvement of security following directives by chief minister Raghubar Das on Friday. Principal health secretary K Vidyasagar, city SP Jaya Roy and ADG Kamal Nayan Choubey chalked out plans to step up security measures.
“There has been a consensus on constructing boundary walls and installing surveillance cameras at the gates for now,” deputy health secretary Ramkumar Sinha said.