‘Being severely ragged’: Rajasthan MBBS student complains to UGC, NMC; Bhilwara medical college denies

NEW DELHI: First-year MBBS students of Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia (RVRS) Medical College, Bhilwara, have accused their college seniors of forcing them to “strip naked” and “moan like pornstar” while ragging them.

The fresh MBBS students have lodged ragging complaints with the college administration, University Grants Commission (UGC) and National Medical Commission (NMC).

“The ragging incident occured on October 24. The first-year MBBS students who have been attending college’s foundation course were ragged before me,” a first-year MBBS student of RVRS Medical College Bhilwara told Careers360 . “They asked me to touch the nipples of a fellow batchmate and one of my batchmates was asked to moan like a pornstar and others were stripped naked.”

They first complained to the UGC on October 27 and again on November 1 when they simultaneously complained to the NMC as well.

Also read Rage On Campus: Why ragging persists in medical and dental colleges in India

Responding to the October 27 mail, UGC asked the complainant student to reveal his/her identity to initiate further action, a demand refused by the student who feared action from college and seniors. Their name has been withheld from this report for the same reason.

Members of anti-ragging NGO Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) have also been demanding action from college administrators against the accused students. The college administration is yet to take any action on the complaints.

In response to Right to Information (RTI) application filed by SAVE on October 28, the college on October 29 denied occurance of any ragging incident in its campus in recent times.

The incident comes in the wake of an incident at Tripura Medical College . The college filed a police complaint on October 27 against 18 senior MBBS students for ragging their juniors, and imposed a collective fine of Rs 10 lakh. Earlier, on October 18, Grant Government Medical College, Mumbai, suspended two second-year MBBS students who were allegedly found drunk and were accused of ragging a junior.

Ragging at Bhilwara Medical College

RVRS Medical College Bhilwara started its first batch with 100 students in 2018- 2019. The government medical college affiliated to Rajasthan University of Health sciences (RUHS) has been admitting 150 MBBS students in every batch from the 2019-2020 academic session.

In line with NMC’s Competency Based Medical Education (CBME) curriculum, the college began its compulsory two-week foundation course for MBBS students on October 14 which concluded on October 26. It announced a Diwali vacation right after. The ragging incident reportedly began during the foundation course.

“I am a student in RVRS Bhilwara and me and my batchmates are being severely ragged by seniors – both online and offline. Online ragging includes giving intros, late night calls from seniors, asking us to rate female students in our class. Offline ragging is very, very severe – they take us to an empty house where many seniors, drunk, scream at us loudly in very abusive language. After that they strip us forcefully and then give us tasks to perform. They take away our phones so that we don’t record or gather evidence,” says the email sent by a first-year MBBS student to UGC and NMC on October 27.

“There have been past cases of recorded ragging in this college but nothing has changed here and the ragging culture is still very strong. Some college faculties here also support ragging which is why I want to keep my identity anonymous. I am very scared for my safety,” the email adds.

In response, the UGC on October 28 asked the complainant to share the details of victim and accused/senior students along with their names and courses.

“In the past few days, we have noted a significant increase in anonymous complaints, all originating from the same individual but related to various institutions across different states. This pattern raises concerns that someone may be exploiting the facility for commercial gain, filing complaints on behalf of various students rather than advising students how to reach the 24x7 anti ragging helpline directly. To mitigate such activities and maintain the integrity of our complaint process, we kindly request your cooperation. Specifically, we ask you to provide your college identity card to confirm your affiliation with the institution against which you are filing a ragging complaint. Please rest assured that your identity will remain confidential and will only be used for record-keeping purposes,” the UGC said.

Even though the UGC in its mail said that the anti-ragging helpline “does not share any details about the victim and complainant with anyone”, the complainant refused to share their own details but shared those of the accused. “I fear for my safety and want to keep my identity anonymous,” student said.

College responses

The MBBS student also contacted SAVE. Upon receiving the mail, Rupesh Kumar Jha, supervisor of RTI and victim support division of SAVE, filed an RTI application on October 28 seeking CCTV recordings. The college allegedly refused to share those without citing any reason.

In response to RTI, the college administration stated that an anti-ragging committee has been constituted to investigate ragging incidents in and around the government medical college Bhilwara campus.

“All the students of this college from second year to final year were issued orders to avail vacation from October 14 to October 27 due to which these students could not enter the college campus and stay in the hostel. No first-year MBBS students have reported ragging students to college administration either in writing or oral,” the RTI response says.

The RVRS medical college has a 13-member anti-ragging committee with principal Dr Varsha Ashok Kumar Singh as its chairperson; she did not respond to calls from Careers360 .

However, Dr Daulat Meena, a member of the anti-ragging committee of the college said, “We have not received any complaints from the students. We will take action if we receive any complaint.”

The complainant students said they have already sent a written complaint to the college authorities and have been repeatedly reminding them to take action.

“I got the government medical college in my own state after clearing National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG). At the start of my college life, I felt very bad due to ragging. The college should check their CCTV camera recordings and take action against senior students so that ragging must stop here,” said a complainant.

Jha of SAVE has warned the college authorities of an FIR for not initiating action against the accused.

“A complaint was submitted to RVRS Medical College on 28 October 2024. Rather than forming an inquiry committee to investigate the matter, the college administration immediately dismissed the allegations. This response suggests that the administration is shielding the accused students. The principal, too, holds responsibility for allowing this ragging incident to occur. Our organization intends to escalate this matter to the NMC and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, seeking an FIR to be lodged against the Principal,” he said.