Zee Media Bureau
Shimla: Four medical college students, who were convicted of ragging to death their junior Aman Kachroo in Himachal Pradesh four years back, have been set free on account of their ‘good conduct’, reports said on Thursday.
The conviction of Ajay Verma, Naveen Verma, Abhinav Verma and Mukul Sharma, who were punished for ragging Aman Kachroo to death in the 2009, was upheld by the Himachal Pradesh High Court in April this year.
All four convicts were freed after the Himachal Pradesh government decided to write off their remaining sentence on account of their `good conduct` and allow them to complete their medical course at a medical college in Kangra.
However, the four students will not be able to join government jobs.
The development was confirmed, state Health Minister Kaul Singh said, “The government has taken a legal opinion on re-enrolling them in the MBBS course.”
"The opinion of the law department favours them to allow them to continue their education. Since education is the basic right of every individual, we cannot stop them from completing the degree," he said.
But the Minister said they won`t be eligible for a government job after completing the degree.
Sources also claimed that the state government has also sought the permission of the Medical Council of India to get them readmitted.
Aman Kachroo, 19, was a student of the Rajendra Prasad Medical College and Hospital at Tanda town in Kangra district since 2007. He died March 8, 2009, after he was ragged by his four drunk seniors.
Responding to the government move to readmit the students, Aman`s father Rajender Kachroo said this would send a wrong signal.
"I am not against rehabilitation but that doesn`t mean they should be given the same position as earlier," Rajender Kachroo said.
"The decision to readmit them is a major setback in this direction. It may be symbolic (to readmit them) but it has the large dimension in the context of the campaign," he said.
"Our family has nothing to do with. It is for the government of India, the judiciary, the Medical Council of India, the University Grants Commission, etc to take a call on this. These are the agencies that support the eradication of ragging," he added.
The convicts were earlier held guilty under Sections 304 II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), Section 34 (common intent) and Section 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by Purinder Vaidya, additional district and sessions judge, in Dharamsala, after 20 months of trial.
The three convicts were third-year MBBS students, while the fourth, Ajay Verma, was an intern at the time of the incident.
With IANS inputs
