Kochi, Feb. 19 -- Seven students of a government college in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala were suspended on Tuesday for ragging a first-year student by brutally assaulting him.

This is the third incident of assault in the name of ragging at an educational institute in the state in recent weeks.

The latest instance was reported at the Government College Kariavattom in the state capital on February 11 based on the complaint of a first-year student who alleged that he was tortured by senior students inside the unit room of the SFI, the student wing of the CPI(M), the lead of the LDF alliance currently in power in the state.

Bins Jose, a first-year biotechnology student who was the victim of ragging, said he was tied up and assaulted inside...