Ragging in Andhra Pradesh - Three Andhra medicos get jail term for ragging juniors

13 November 2009:VIJAYAWADA: In a landmark, first-of-its-kind judgment in Andhra Pradesh, a Vijayawada court on Thursday sentenced three MBBS students to one-year imprisonment for ragging a junior student. The three are presently working as house surgeons at Siddartha Government Medical College's general hospital and in the last leg of their MBBS course.

First additional chief metropolitan magistrate K Satyanarayana said the prosecution had proved the charges against the three and slapped a Rs 1,000 fine each on them apart from the jail term. He, however, suspended the judgment for a month to enable them to move a higher court.

The three — Nella Venkata Chalapathi, Chittimalla Ramprasad and Mosham Suresh — had harassed a student, K Satish, on the college campus in July 2007. Suresh lodged a complaint against them on July 13, 2007. The police investigated the matter and filed a chargesheet under AP Prevention of Ragging Act (1997). Source

ragging in Coimbatore Medical College - Four students held

25 October 2009:COIMBATORE: Despite SC bans and pleas, ragging refuses to die out.

In the latest horror, four students of the government-run Coimbatore Medical College Hospital were arrested and suspended from the college for allegedly assaulting juniors. According to police, the four seniors allegedly took 11 second-year students to the terrace of the hostel and asked them to 'swim' on the floor on the night of October 21.

When they hesitated and resisted, they were assaulted, the police said. Two days earlier, three other boys were also allegedly ragged and beaten up by the same group.

''As ragging of freshers would have come to our notice immediately, these seniors appear to have targeted second-year students,'' medical college dean Dr V Kumaran said. Source

IMA safety net for doctors

Dhanbad, Oct. 8: Increasing number of criminal cases against doctors in the district has prompted the local unit of Indian Medical Association to seek judicial intervention.

This apart, the association will also seek support for implementation of a law that will ban lodging of criminal case against doctors without prior approval of a specialised committee. Seven states, including Bengal, have already implemented the law. Andhra Pradesh was the first to implement the law.

President of Dhanbad chapter of IMA A.K. Singh said that a delegation comprising senior office-bearers of the association would soon meet the district judge demanding constitution of the specialised doctors' committee in the light of Supreme Court ruling.

"The ruling clearly prohibits lodging of a criminal case against doctors without the prior approval of the specialised doctors' committee. They can only be booked under the Consumer Protection Act," said Singh. He added that the administration must initiate steps to prevent these.

Speaking about the association's action plan, IMA secretary Sunil Kumar Sinha said that a delegation would also meet Governor K. Sankaranarayanan and demand implementation of the law.

He said that in many cases the family members of the patients resort to violence alleging negligence against the doctors only to avoid paying the bill of the nursing home.Source:The Telegraph India

Condom May Become thing of past

It may be time for men to split the contraceptive burden with women, for Scottish scientists have come up with a new 'Pill' that drastically reduces sperm count in men.

Professor Richard Anderson, from Edinburgh University, is on the look out for men willing to try the revolutionary hormone injections, containing progesterone and testosterone, to be given in the bum every two months.

The researcher believes that the contraceptive treatment works better than condoms, and is as effective as the female Pill.

"If this trial is successful I imagine there would be interest in looking at marketing the injection as a male contraceptive," the Sun quoted Anderson as saying.

"The surveys we have done have been very positive - and particularly positive from women. A lot of women who have taken on the reproductive and contraceptive burden think it's maybe time men took their turn.

"Even if not all men would be keen on an injection, there would definitely be a market to make such a treatment available," he added.

Anderson further said that no serious side-effects had been predicted from the year-long trial, run by the World Health Organisation. The effects of the injections were also assured to be fully reversible.

A spokesman from the Family Planning Association said: "It is important that research continues to try to give men more contraceptive choice. But it is crucial that any new contraceptive is rigorously tested to make sure that it is incredibly safe and effective." Source:The times of India

Pill that could extend people’s lifespan by up to 25 years

Taking a step closer towards a wonder pill that could extend people's lifespan by up to 25 years, scientists have claimed that over half of babies born in the new future in the UK and other wealthy nations will live to 100 years .

The drug, touted as the "elixir of life" drug, works by using a molecule called spermidine, which helps to protect the body against damaging chemicals known as free radicals.

The scientists, led by Dr Frank Madeo, of the University of Graz in Austria, hope that the findings could lead to the creation of drugs that dramatically slow down ageing, allowing people to be healthier for longer.

The findings come in line with a new study, which claims that the average life expectancy in Britain, which is currently 81 years, could jump to more than 100 years. "Ageing results from complex processes that cause programmed cell death," The Daily Express quoted Madeo as saying.

"Here, we report that administration of spermidine markedly extended the lifespan of yeast, flies and worms, and human immune cells," added the bio-scientist.

Ageing is associated with the decrease of spermidine, which is known to be necessary for cell growth and maturation.

However, it was unclear if this was the cause or consequence of ageing.

The researchers saw that when the chemical was applied to old yeast cells their lifespan increased by a factor of up to four times that of untreated cells.

Similarly, the average longevity of fruitflies and nematode worms went up by 30 per cent and 15 per cent respectively, according to the findings.

In another experiment, just 15 per cent of human immune blood cells cultured in the lab survived after 12 days compared with 50 per cent of those treated with spermidine. And when mice were fed the chemical for 200 days through their drinking water, the free radicals reduced by about 30 per cent, indicating "reduced age-related oxidative stress".

"One of the most widely accepted theories of ageing is the free radical theory, which attributes ageing to accumulating oxidative stress," said Madeo.

"Together, these data indicate supplementation of spermidine can retard ageing in several species," he added.

The findings suggest the chemical has this effect on cells and ultimately organisms as it provides an alternative mechanism for cellular "clean up". The study has been published online in Nature Cell Biology . Source:The times of India

Ragging in MP Shah Medical College , JAMNAGAR

19 September 2009:JAMNAGAR: A postgraduate student of MP Shah Medical College has complained to the college authorities that he was ragged brutally.

According to the authorities, who refused to disclose the victim's name, the student, with his parents, approached them and complained against a group of senior students who subjected him to inhuman ragging.

The victim enrolled in the college in 2003. His ordeal began when, after MBBS, he got admission in the postgraduate course. He claimed he was regularly thrashed by his tormentors. They used to wake him up by kicking him in his groin and did not let him sleep. When he tried to protest, they threatened to kill him.

Unable to bear the torture, he quit studies and returned to Ahmedabad, his parents said. "The amount of torture my son has gone through can be gauged from the fact that he wakes up suddenly in the night and starts screaming," said the victim's father.

"The allegation of ragging is serious, and considering the Supreme Court's verdict, we've taken serious note of the incident and formed a committee to investigate the matter," said a college official. Source:The Times of India

Ragging in Calcutta Institute of Pharmaceutical and Allied Technology, Uluberia - accused face the heat

16 September 2009:KOLKATA: Nayan Adak, the first-year BPharma student at Calcutta Institute of Pharmaceutical and Allied Technology, Uluberia, who was allegedly

ragged and tortured severely by his seniors, will be taken to his college to identify his tormentors.

On Monday, Nayan was discharged from Greenview Nursing Home in Alampur, Howrah. While his father and uncle were taking him back home, police officers called him back and took him to Uluberia police station for further investigation.

"I was taken to Uluberia railway station, where I pointed out the exact location of the incident. Police noted that it was between railway tracks 5 and 6 where I was intercepted by a senior. We had both walked towards Nimdighi along the railway tracks. On Monday, I had shown police a deserted area near the railway lines where the ragging took place," said Adak.

Nayan was then shifted to the bungalow of Howrah Superintendent of Police Hari K Kusumakar. There, he was interrogated by the SP himself for more than an hour. However, since the college was closed on Monday, police could not take Adak to identify his seniors. Police have reportedly identified the three students who had reportedly tortured Nayan. However, they have to be identified by Nayan himself before being arrested. The Uluberia SDPO has asked Nayan's father to bring him to the college for identifying the students over the next couple of days.

The complaint with Uluberia police station was lodged by Nayan's cousin and elder brother on September 10. Since then, police had constantly interrogated some of his batchmates and seniors. Around 56 second-year
students of the college were identified and asked specific questions. A few among them had given inconsistent replies, said sources.


Panel nails 5 JU students

KOLKATA: Two students have been indicted by the three-member inquiry committee, which was set up in Jadavpur University (JU) to probe the alleged ragging of seven first-year engineering and science students in the main hostel late on September 4.

The committee has also named three other students for their complicity in the offence.

The committee will submit its report to acting vice-chancellor Siddhartha Dutta on Wednesday; he will then place it before the anti-ragging committee for its views. The report, along with recommendations from the anti-ragging panel, will be placed before the executive council the highest executive body of the university for punitive action.

The committee reportedly has ample evidence to prove that the accused abused the freshers verbally, forced them to perform sexual acts and made them run errands. The accused are from four departments mechanical, civil, production and physics.

"There is sufficient evidence, which confirms mental, physical and even sexual torture on the first-year students that continued for four hours, from 11 pm to 3 am. Witness to the ragging corroborated this," the report states.

The three-member probe committee included Pinaki Bhattacharya, a representative of the students, and two professors of JU.

Aware of the consequences, the seniors allegedly forced the victims to give it in writing to the vice-chancellor that dean of students Rajat Roy, who went to the main hostel after the incident, forcibly made them sign the complaints. Some of the accused tried to give a political twist to the entire incident saying the CPM-dominated university was trying to frame them as they did not belong to the party's student wing, SFI.

Fellow students, who sympathized with the accused, even lodged an FIR against the authorities on September 7 saying the university was forcibly detaining the alleged victims on the campus even though they were willing to return to the main hostel.

"Initially, the victims confirmed the ragging when I went to meet them. But they backed out in front of the media under pressure from their seniors in hostel. However, it is learnt that they have come out with facts," the dean of students said.

"I am yet to receive the report. However, if the accusations are proved, then punishment will be meted out as and when suggested by the anti-ragging committee and the EC," Dutta said. source:The Times of India