Dalit girl's ragging: Karnataka Police arrest three

Kozhikode/Bengaluru, June 25  The Karnataka Police has arrested three female nursing students for allegedly ragging and forcing their junior, Aswathi K.P., to drink a disinfectant, reducing her to a critical condition.

Lakshmi, Athira and Krishnapriya were arrested late Friday evening and remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a magistrate in Gulbarga district in Karnataka.

They, as also the victim, are all Keralite girls who were studying in Al Qamar College of Nursing at Gulbarga. 

The Karnataka Police is also looking for another accused Shilpa Jose who is absconding.

Aswathi, a 19-year-old Dalit girl, was allegedly force-fed a disinfectant by her seniors at the hostel of their college on May 9. That resulted in serious damage to the victim's internal organs.

She is reportedly in a critical condition and undergoing treatment in a hospital in Kozhikode district in Kerala where she was admitted on June 2.

The FIR in the case was filed in Kozhicode on June 22. The police in Kozhikode then sought Karnataka Police's help in acting on the FIR. 

A nine-member team of Karnataka Police officials are now in Kozhikode to take a statement from the victim.

They have also sought the help of the Kerala Police to trace the fourth accused Shilpa Jose who is believed to be in Kerala.

Aswathi's mother said: "No mother should ever undergo the agony that I am undergoing seeing my daughter suffering." 

Leader of Opposition in Kerala assembly Ramesh Chennithala visited the victim on Saturday and spoke to the doctors treating her.

"I have spoken to the Kerala and Karnataka chief ministers and have asked the latter to speed up the probe and bring the culprits to book," Chennithala told reporters.