Five students arrested for ragging horror in Kerala’s nursing college. | (Photo Courtesy: X/@karthiiiiiii93)
Another horror story has emerged from Kerala, one that makes even the darkest chapters of history look tame in comparison. Five senior students from the Government Nursing College in Kottayam have been arrested for unspeakable acts of cruelty against their juniors, all in the name of ragging.
For months, they tortured their juniors in ways that defy human decency. They forced them to stand naked while hanging heavy dumbbells from their private parts. They jabbed them with dividers until blood oozed out, only to apply lotions that caused excruciating pain.
It is terrifying to imagine how long this silent suffering would have continued had one victim not gathered the courage to tell his parents. His family, unlike many others, did not cower in fear but went to the police.
The result: five arrests and the revelation of a crime so monstrous that it raises uncomfortable questions about the moral decay within our educational institutions. Just weeks ago, Kerala witnessed another horrifying case of bullying, one that ended in suicide.
Mihir Ahammad, a Class IX student from Kochi, jumped from the 26th floor of his apartment. Because his seniors on the school bus had made his life a living hell. They humiliated him, bullied him relentlessly, and, worst of all, forced him to lick a toilet seat while flushing water over his face.
His mother has provided call records and chat messages proving that Mihir had suffered for a long time. In a country where suicides are too often brushed off as “personal issues,” the bullies may never be held accountable.
For decades, ragging was excused as a rite of passage, a means for juniors to “develop confidence.” That argument no longer holds water. What was once playful teasing has now mutated into organised sadism.
The Kottayam case is particularly disturbing because the perpetrators are nursing students. The same individuals who are supposed to care for the sick, who are trained to relieve suffering, have now been exposed as tormentors capable of unimaginable cruelty.
This level of sadism suggests a deeper issue: drug abuse. Kerala, long known for its high literacy rate, is now also known for rampant substance abuse. Children with hefty pocket money, raised in nuclear families with emotionally absent parents, are increasingly turning to drugs that can cause addiction from a single use.
Parents, glued to their mobile screens, fail to notice the warning signs until it is too late. Ragging should be treated as a serious criminal offence with zero tolerance. The drug mafia must be crushed before it claims more young lives. Instead of criminalising addicts, the state must help them recover. The government’s obsession with liquor revenue has only fuelled substance abuse. It is time to prioritise public health over profits.
