KOCHI: The high court has ordered five college students who sought to quash a criminal case against them for ragging their juniors to do social service at a government hospital for two weeks to accept their plea.
Justice K Haripal ordered the five students of TKM Engineering College at Kollam to do social service at General Hospital, Kollam for at least eight hours a day for two weeks. They would be exonerated only upon producing a certificate proving satisfactory completion of social services, the court ordered.
The case against the students was registered at Kilikolloor police station in November last year after they allegedly subjected two junior students to ragging and caused grievous hurt. Nasal bone of one of the junior students had sustained a fracture in the ragging incident that allegedly took place under a railway overbridge. The juniors had complained that they were taken to the overbridge and were beaten up by the seniors.
In the plea filed before the high court, the senior students sought to quash the criminal case citing an out-of-court settlement and produced affidavits from the junior students who filed the complaint.
Prosecution told the court that the case can be quashed in view of the settlement but the students should be directed to do some form of social service under the supervision of district legal services authority.
Agreeing with the prosecution, the court ordered the students to appear before the secretary of district legal services authority at Kollam and undertake the social service as ordered.
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