21 college students suspended for ragging juniors in southern Indian College

"The mass suspension came after a number of junior students and freshers complained to the college authorities that they were made to wash toilets and drink polluted water as part of ragging by the senior students," a senior official said Wednesday.

The college has also initiated a probe into the ragging allegations by setting up an internal panel led by two professors, the official said, adding that it will submit its report to the anti-ragging committee that will take a final call on the seriousness of the complaints.

The suspension of 21 students came barely two days after some nine students of another state-run polytechnic college at Kottayam in Kerala were accused of ragging juniors, in which a student even suffered kidney failure and is currently admitted to a local hospital.

Police have arrested six of the accused students, while the others are still absconding. "Efforts are on to nab all of them," a senior police official said.

India's Supreme Court anti-ragging guidelines clearly state that the hostels of freshers and junior students must be carefully guarded by a warden. Moreover, the entry of seniors and outsiders shall be restricted after dark to prevent such types of incidents.