Assam: Seven college students suspended over viral hugging video

Silchar: A college in Assam has punished seven students after they were discovered engaging in an "inappropriate act" in the classroom.

In the classroom, a group of lads and girls from the college's Class 11 were seen to be hugging and prodding one another. The video was captured by another student in the same class and afterwards posted on social media.

The incident took place in Silchar's Ramanuj Gupta College, a privately managed institution. Netizens criticised the pupils' behaviour after the video went viral. The college administration was also criticised by some.

The college administration learned about the video on Wednesday, and seven students were immediately prohibited from attending classes.

Four of the seven were female, and three were male.

The college administration informed the students that they had engaged in acts of turpitude that were clearly visible to others. Such actions amount to a flagrant breach of the institution's rules of conduct. The students were thus consequently barred from the classes for an indefinite period.

Principal of the college, Purnadeep Chanda told IANS: "The students did this turpitude act in tiffin hours when no teachers were present. We have CCTV cameras on the college premises and mobile phones were also banned on the campus."

He added that the students are from the new batch of Class 11 and had just joined college 15 days ago.

The guardians of those seven students have also been called in by the college administration. It has been learned that the college may take more severe measures or even expel the students.