Ragging shatters dreams of engineering student

Scared of the memories of the horrible torture unleashed by a gang of Malayali senior students during a train journey in Tamil Nadu, Geevarghese John has given up his dreams of becoming a B Tech degree holder.
 Geevarghese, who was a fourth semester student of Jnanamani Engineering College, Salem, had hit headlines after he was subjected to brutal torture on board a train during a journey home last January.
 A native of Ernakulam district, Geevarghese has now joined a college at Piravom for BSc Electronics course.
 According to his relatives, Geevarghese had faced threats from senior students from initiating legal action against the miscreants.
 Though he returned to the college in Salem after recovery from injuries, friends of the accused in the case allegedly threatened him and insisted to compromise the case.
 Geevarghese and his friend Arun were attacked by a group of senior students in the general compartment of Chennai Mail soon after train left Salem station.

 The gang demanded cash and ATM cards.
 When resisted, the duo were beaten up with iron rods and their ears pierced.
 Both of them were thrown out of the train at Erode station but Arun managed to get into the train again and alighted at Palakkad station where he got first aid.
 From there he was shifted to a hospital in Thrissur.
 Geevarghese contacted the Erode station master who took him to a hospital.
 His relatives later arrived and took him to Kochi.
 “Even eight months after the heinous crime occurred nobody was arrested.
 We had given the names of the torturers, but they have not been booked so far.
 I am concerned only of my son’s safety, so I wanted him to quit the Salem College and continue his studies here,” Geevarghese’s mother Annamma said.
 Geevarghese’s family has incurred a loss of `3 lakh which they already spent for the engineering course in Salem.
 Annamma said that the parents of some of the accused had come for a compromise.
 “Let there be no more such a crime, so we refused for such a settlement,” she added.
 Earlier, in a complaint John had mentioned the names of his seniors who attacked him and his friend.
 The names mentioned in the complaint are Akhil Babu of Ochira, Tintu Abraham of Uzhavoor, Kiran Nair of Parassala, Ebin Babu of Malappuram and Justin.
 The relatives said that Mulanthuruthi police has registered a case against eight persons, including four unidentified persons, after Chief Minister Oommen Chandy ordered to initiate action against them.
 “However, the police did not take any action, despite a High Court order which upheld the decision to register an FIR,” they said.