Photo by Morgan Basham on Unsplash
The recent violent ragging incident at Government Doon Medical College in Dehradun has once again exposed a troubling paradox at the heart of medical education in India. The institutions that train future doctors and individuals who will dedicate their lives to healing and compassion will continue to be vultures of violence, humiliation, and abuse against their youngest members.
The Incident: Beyond Physical Violence
On January 12, a first-year MBBS student at Doon Medical College experienced what can only be described as organised brutality. According to his written complaint filed the next day, senior students took him outside the campus premises late at night, where he was beaten with belts and slippers, forced to cut his hair, and made to sleep outdoors. The complaint describes a young person left "shaken and terrified," living in fear of revenge even after gathering the courage to report. This wasn't a spontaneous act of aggression. The calculated nature of the incident is taking the victim off campus, involving multiple seniors, and combining physical assault with psychological humiliation; it reveals a disturbing level of premeditation and entitlement among the perpetrators.
Swift Action, But Is It Enough?
To their credit, the college administration responded quickly. Nine MBBS students from the 2023 and 2024 batches have been suspended following the Anti-Ragging Committee's investigation. Two students received the harshest penalties of two-month class suspensions, expulsion from the hostel and internship for the remainder of their course, and fines of Rs 50,000 each. Seven others face one-month class suspensions and three-month hostel expulsions.
The state's Medical and Medical Education Minister termed the incident "extremely unfortunate" and emphasised that such actions "set an example for the future." Dr. Geeta Jain, the college principal, reiterated that Doon Medical College maintains a "ragging-free campus" and follows a zero-tolerance policy. Yet, one must ask if this is truly a ragging-free campus with zero tolerance, how did such a severe incident occur? The very language used, "ragging-free campus", rings echoing when confronted with the reality of what this student endured.
The Systemic Failure
What happened at Doon Medical College is not an isolated incident but part of a persistent pattern across Indian medical institutions. Despite robust anti-ragging frameworks mandated by the UGC and National Medical Commission, including active committees, sensitisation programs, and reporting mechanisms, ragging continues to thrive in the shadows of hostel corridors and campus corners.
The problem runs deeper than inadequate rules or insufficient penalties. Medical colleges operate with deeply entrenched hierarchical structures that often normalise power imbalances between seniors and juniors. First-year students enter these institutions already burdened by intense academic pressure, long hours, and emotional stress. They're particularly vulnerable to harassment, yet the very culture that should protect them sometimes participates in perpetuating abuse.
Consider the barriers that prevent victims from speaking up, such as fear of social isolation, worry about academic repercussions, concern about being labelled as troublemakers, and anxiety about retaliation. The complainant at Doon Medical College explicitly mentioned being, “scared of retribution.” This fear is not unfounded in many institutions, as reporting ragging can make a student's remaining years miserable.
Why Medical Colleges Demand Special Attention
The fact that this occurred in a medical college makes it particularly disturbing. These institutions are training the next generation of healthcare professionals, people who will be entrusted with human lives, who will be expected to demonstrate empathy, compassion, and ethical judgment in their daily practice.
How can we expect future doctors to treat patients with dignity when they were trained in environments that normalised humiliation? What message does it send when those learning the Hippocratic oath's principle of "first, do no harm" are simultaneously participating in or witnessing systematic harm against their peers?
Medical education should cultivate not just clinical knowledge but also emotional intelligence, respect for human dignity, and ethical awareness. Ragging directly undermines these values. It creates a culture where hierarchy is maintained through fear rather than respect, where seniority is asserted through domination rather than mentorship.
The Broader Conversation
This incident at Doon Medical College has reignited essential conversations among students, parents, and educators about the effectiveness of anti-ragging mechanisms. Parents entrust medical colleges with their children, expecting not just quality education but also physical and emotional safety. When that trust is violated, it undermines the entire educational enterprise.
Students themselves must be part of the solution. Those who witness ragging but remain silent either out of fear or indifference, are enabling the system to continue. Bystander intervention, where students actively intervene when they witness abuse or immediately report it, needs to become the norm rather than the exception.
Educators and administrators must recognise that preventing ragging isn't just about protecting individual students; it's about preserving the integrity of medical education itself. Every incident of ragging represents a failure to uphold the values that medicine claims to represent.
A Call for Empathy
The Uttarakhand Director of Medical Education has assured that strict action will be taken in accordance with the law. This is important. But beyond legal compliance, what's needed is a fundamental shift in how we conceptualise medical education. Medical colleges should be spaces rooted in dignity, safety, and compassion not just in theory, but in daily practice. They should be environments where senior students guide rather than dominate, where difficult academic journeys are navigated together rather than used as excuses for abuse, and where every student feels empowered to speak up without fear.
The complainant in this case showed remarkable courage in coming forward despite his fear. His complaint has led to action, but it shouldn't have required such courage. In a truly safe educational environment, reporting abuse would be straightforward, supported, and expected.
As this case moves forward, it's worth remembering that behind the administrative actions and committee reports is a young person who came to medical college with dreams of healing others, only to be met with violence and humiliation. His experience and the experiences of countless others who have suffered through ragging should serve as a constant reminder that rules and policies are meaningless if they don't translate into actual safety and dignity for every student.
The question isn't whether Doon Medical College or any institution can claim to be "ragging-free." The question is whether they're willing to do the sustained, difficult work of creating cultures where such claims actually reflect reality, where kindness, mentorship, and mutual respect are not just ideals to aspire to, but the lived experience of every student who walks through their doors.
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