Ragging victim serious

Suraj Bandara and Bandula Gunasekara

A first year female undergraduate of the Ruhunu University Arts and Social Science Faculty was transferred from Matara General Hospital to the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital as her condition was critical after being ragged by senior students of the university, Matara General Hospital sources said.

It is reported that she had been severely ragged at the university canteen before a gathering of senior and junior students. Wathsala Kumudini de Silva, 21, a resident of Balapitiya had earlier faced another mishap, when she was undergoing leadership training at the Buwelikada Camp in Kandy.

An iron bar had fallen on her shoulder during the training and she had undergone treatment for nearly a month at the Kandy hospital. She had become unconscious while being ragged and the senior students had hospitalized her on the pretext that she fell on the staircase and got injured, sources said.

Ruhunu University Vice Chancellor Prof. Susirith Mendis, Deputy Vice Chancellor Gamini Senanayake and Arts and Human Science Faculty authorities together with university security officials are conducting a separate investigation in addition to police inquiries.

Matara police on the directive of Matara SSP Sumith Edirisinghe are investigating.