Ragging prompts de-addiction clinic in HP medical college

A de-addiction clinic has started functioning in Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, which came into limelight following the death of a student allegedly due to ragging, in the wake of a report highlighting a link between alcohol and ragging in the institution in Himachal Pradesh.

A de-addiction clinic has come into being in Psychiatry department for the benefit of students and others having a habit of consuming liquor and smoking and for those who suffer from stress, Principal Anil Chauhan said on Sunday.

The three-member sub-panel of the Raghvan committee, which on the instruction of the Supreme Court had visited the college in early April, had in its report to the apex court on April 20 highlighted "unholy linkages of alcohol with ragging".

Members of the Psychiatry department are counselling students to visit the clinic to get rid of the habits, Chauhan said over phone.

Besides, the college authority during an anti-ragging committee's meeting on Saturday also asked the district authority to remove liquor shops from vicinity of the college, he added.

The probe report of additional district magistrate Sandeep Kumar submitted to the Himachal Pradesh government in March had revealed that four seniors, presently behind bars in the student's death case, had severely thrashed Aman Kachroo on the intervening night of March 6/7 in an inebriated condition, resulting into the tragedy.