Kolkata, Aug 3 (IANS) Six students of a West Bengal engineering institute were punished for indulging in ragging and abusing colleagues on social networking site Facebook, a varsity official said Wednesday.

The vice-chancellor of Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) in Shibpur in Howrah district Tuesday received a complaint that a student was ragged and threatened by senior students on the social networking site. The complaint led to the formation of an inquiry committee comprising three professors.

The committee gave its report Wednesday stating the 'victim' himself was guilty of abusing seniors on Facebook, but he later deleted that page from his account.

"We also felt that even if he was ragged he should have complained to us rather than to a political party," BESU Registrar Biman Bandopadhyay told IANS.

"Three senior students studying in fourth year were slapped a penalty of Rs.5,000 each and handed down one-month suspension from hostel. Two senior students of second year were given a penalty of Rs.10,000 each and suspended from hostel for two months,"
he said.

"The first year student who is also the complainant has been given a penalty of Rs.10,000 apart from suspension from hostel," said Bandopadhyay.