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Introduction

Ragging is the vitiated and distorted form of healthy interaction among the freshers and the old students in the beginning of a new academic session in any educational institution. This intermingling of students resulted in a beautiful camaraderie, binding them in one common chord of friendship and togetherness.

The idea of ragging is not new. It is age-old. However, its nature and tenor are changing from time to time. It can be safely said that this process was not always rosy for the newcomers as students. Some kinds of pressure tactics or bullying in varying forms largely prevailed in educational institutions. However, the element of violence was almost missing in olden times. Due to manifold societal and social changes occurring in the last two decades, ragging has become the other name of bullying the freshers, both physically and mentally. Needless to say, that such ghastly incidents of bullying have resulted in a few cases the untimely deaths by suicide and acute mental depression or other physical and mental traumas of a long-lasting nature. The heartrending death of an innocent student, Aman Kaachru about fifteen years back and the suicide by a Nepalese student at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Odisha are just the illustrative examples of a continuing tale of horror and agony being scripted by the fellow students with impunity in the campuses of educational institutions. A bird's eye view can be gathered from the authorized data given below which is based on the investigation carried out by a leading English newspaper of India, The Indian Express, with the help of information gathered by RTI recently. The report states:1

  1. ‘'Over a decade, the UGC helpline logged over 8,000 ragging complaints, with records showing a 208 per cent surge from 2012 to 2022: from 358 in 2012, a peak of 1,115 in 2019 between the pandemic hit, to 1103 in 2022 and 756 till October 2023.
  2. A total number of 78 suicide/death cases alleged to ragging were reported during this period. Most of these deaths occurred in Maharashtra (10), followed by UP and Tamil Nadu with seven each, Telangana (6), Andhra Pradesh (5) and MP (4).
  3. Most ragging complaints in this period were reported from UP (1,202) followed by MP (795), West Bengal (728), Odisha (517), Bihar (476) and Maharashtra (393). The institutions on top of the list were Banaras Hindu University (BHU) with 72, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology in Bhopal (53) and MKCG Medical College in Odisha's Berhampur (49).”

The Supreme Court Guidelines Issued in University of Kerala vs. Council, Principals’ Colleges, Kerala and Ors,2

1. The Hon'ble Supreme Court ordered that a number of recommendations made by the Raghavan Committee be implemented immediately. These included the following:

  • Confidence building measures such as appointment of counselor, arrival of senior students a week or two weeks after the Juniors have arrived; joint sensitization programmes; joint orientation programme of ‘freshers’ and ‘seniors’ to be addressed by the principal/Head of the institution; organization on large scale of cultural, sports and other activities; make provisions for faculty members to dine with the hostel residents in their respective hostels etc.
  • Every institution must have an Anti-Ragging Committee and an Anti-Ragging Squad. There should be a Monitoring Cell on Ragging at the University Level that would coordinate with the affiliated colleges and institutions under their domain. There should be a Monitoring Cell at the level of the Chancellor of the State Universities.
  • In the light of the increasing number of private commercially managed lodges or hostels outside campuses, such hostels and management must be registered with the local police authorities, and permission to start such hostels or register them must necessarily be recommended by the Heads of educational institutions. It should be mandatory for the local police, local administration and the institutional authorities to ensure vigilance on incidents that may come within the definition of ragging.
  • Wardens must be accessible at all hours and therefore, it is important that they be available on the telephone and in other modes of communication. Similarly, the telephone numbers of the other important functionaries- heads of institutions, faculty members, members of the anti-ragging committees, district and sub-divisional authorities and state authorities where relevant- should also be widely disseminated for the needy to get in touch or seek help in emergencies.
  • Brochures or booklets/leaflets distributed to each student at the beginning of each academic session for obtaining undertaking not to indulge or abet ragging shall contain the blueprint of prevention and methods of redress.
  • The educational institutions should ensure that each hostel should have a full-time warden who resides within the hostel or at the very least, in the close vicinity thereof.

The Court also added:

  • Annually, institutions must inform parents/guardians about anti-ragging regulations and legal consequences.
  • Institutions should prominently display posters on legal penalties for ragging.
  • Install CCTV cameras at critical locations, identify potential trouble triggers and respond appropriately.
  • Conduct surprise inspections of hostels, student accommodations, canteens, recreation areas, restrooms, bus stops and other key locations.
  • Prominently display the email address and contact details of the nodal officers of the anti-ragging committees.

The above-mentioned detailed guidelines of the apex court to eradicate issued more than 15 years ago, ranging from educational campuses, have not gone much beyond tokenism. Government regulations are there but only on paper. The regulatory system doesn't work in the proper spirit- it usually finds complaints either ‘frivolous’ or ‘difficult to track down’.

The Role of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in Curbing the Ragging

University Grants Commission (UGC) is the regulatory body at the apex level to oversee the educational and other related activities of the higher educational institutions all over India. This body has also incorporated appropriate regulations connected with ragging. These are as such:

  1. Clause 9.4 of the UGC's own anti-ragging regulations states that it can take action against colleges that fail to prevent ragging in an adequate manner. However, an RTI revelation tells us that UGC has not invoked this provision against any college since the helpline was set up in 2009. It mainly relied on another clause referring to “other action within its powers as it may deem fit.”3
  2. The UGC's own regulations stipulate that students must submit affidavits every academic year, making a commitment on record that they will not indulge in any act of ragging. But RTI data tells otherwise. Only 4.49 per cent of students submitted these affidavits across their academic course.4
  3. According to the Supreme Court guidelines, the head of the institution or an authorized anti-ragging committee member should assess cases promptly and file an FIR with the police and local authorities within 24 hours. However, the same RTI report procured by an NGO in 2022, Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) that works for curbing ragging, the UGC did not maintain any record of such FIRs.5
  4. As regards to raids conducted and action taken by the Anti-Ragging Squads, the RTI query by the Indian Express showed that the UGC did not maintain any data regarding action taken by such squads.6

Factually, it is clear from above that the performance of UGC in regard to curbing of ragging in educational institutions is far from satisfactory.

Conclusion

In order to exercise adequate control or curb ragging in educational institutions in India, a lot more is needed to be done. According to experts, several urgent measures need to be taken in the campuses of such bodies, including secure complaint boxes, expanded CCTV coverage and an ID-based dashboard for victims. This can be and should be ensured by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in right earnest. The college authorities lack sensitivity and most of the incidents, unsavoury to the students, are simply brushed under the carpet on different pretexts. The motive behind bullying is often driven by sadistic pleasure. Hence, all such incidents should be dealt with firmly without fear or favour. The Supreme Court guidelines are sufficient enough to curb the menacing trend of ragging. This is high time to act decisively by the government and UGC authorities to put an end to ragging; otherwise, in future also, the suicides/deaths of innocent, bright scholars will be repeated again and again. Even a single death of any student is a national loss, and all the authorities entrusted with this onerous task of curbing the menace must act accordingly in the national interest. Here, the parents and peers of the victim should also resolve to take up the matter without making any compromise under persuasion or pressure of any kind. They should be in touch with their words regularly to instill confidence in them. Due to a lack of adequate support from outside, the victims suffer badly - sometimes at the cost of their lives. The menace of ragging must be fought and conquered unitedly and with combined efforts.

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Reference:

  • Rupsa Chakraborty & Pallavi Smart, Ragging deaths: Complaints spike but system stuck in grey zone, SC guidelines remain on paper, The Indian Express, Feb 20, 2025.
  • Civil Appeal No. 887 Of 2009, decided on May 08, 2009.
  • Rupsa Chakraborty & Pallavi Smart, Ragging deaths: Complaints spike but system stuck in grey zone, SC guidelines remain on paper, The Indian Express, Feb 20, 2025.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.
  • Ibid.

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