Keonjhar: At least 24 students of Basantpur Ashram School in Jhumpura block of the district fled their hostel late on Sunday night after facing prolonged ragging from their seniors.
According to sources, class IX students of the school used to torture the eighth class students for a long time in the knowledge of the school administration.
Some parents and guardians had informed the district collector and local MLA earlier, but no action was taken.
The matter came to fore when 24 students, both girls and boys, jumped over the school boundary and fled after witnessing the harassment done to one of their classmates by a group of seniors on Sunday night. However, the teachers of the school managed to convince 10 students and brought them back to the hostel.
The juniors used to be beaten mercilessly for petty reasons like growing long hair, their walking styles and making sound while walking.
“The seniors, mostly the ninth class students, used to beat us regularly for no reason,” said one of the students.
The headmaster of the school rejected the ragging allegation in the campus of the institute. Instead, he accused the juniors of not respecting the seniors. Besides, there were no such complaints earlier, he claimed.
Kalinga AI