Agartala, March 14 (IANS) Two senior students have been academically suspended and punitive action has been taken against four other students of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Agartala, on charge of ragging, an official said here on Wednesday.

"Two senior NIT-Agartala students of 8th semester have been suspended academically on charges of ragging junior students. Four other students have been fined Rs 5,000 and three among them have been asked to quit the institute hostels," NIT-Agartala, Dean of Students' Welfare Rajsekhar Panua told IANS.

The anti-ragging committee of NIT-Agartala, headed by Panua took these punitive actions after an inquiry on a complaint of ragging.

Another NIT-Agartala official said that on March 9 around midnight, some senior students had called a number of junior students to a meeting outside the hostel and physically tortured them in the name of ragging.

"In the ragging, a student from Arunachal Pradesh, Dui Duji, sustained serious injuries but he was not even taken to hospital. Duji informed his parents and it was only after their arrival that the victim was hospitalised," the official added.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju had earlier spoken to Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Director General of Tripura Police Akhil Kumar Shukla and requested them to take action against the guilty students.

Some guardians of the ragged students had also filed FIRs with the police and it was only after that the NIT-Agartala authorities began proceedings against the errant students.

Various student bodies, including the Tribal Student Federation (TSF), have also launched and agitation to call for action against the guilty students.

TSF sources said that student bodies in Arunachal Pradesh had also protested the incident of ragging in NIT-Agartala.

The NIT-Agartala, official said that those involved in the ragging all belonged to the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

--IANS

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