(Source: pexels.com)
Ragging in popular language means initiation
ceremony. The history of ragging dates back to 7 A.D. In Greece, newly inducted
students in the sports community were subjected to mild humiliations and
teasing. Slowly, this tradition percolated to other streams like the military
and finally to education. In India, ragging existed in the pre-independence era
which was imported from the English education system. It was mostly in the army
and public schools. Till the ’60s, it was in a milder form in many universities.
Then, ragging started growing in the college and university system like
anything. After independence, it was the time of reformation and liberalization.
Students from all walks of life started coming to schools, colleges, and
universities for education. For some people, their hegemony had been questioned
in that new era. Some took ragging as a tool to uphold the age-old practice of
repression. Lower caste students & minority students had been subjected to
stringent ragging over time.
In India, there had been some gruesome mother cases
related to ragging such as Pon Navarasu case (1996), Aman Kachroo case (2009) , Ajmal
PM (2012), and Akash Agarwal (2014). The seniors had abused humiliated and beaten juniors inhumanely
while ragging in many colleges & institutions of higher educations. All this
nonsense continued in the name of ragging aka initiation ceremony. Most of the
time, alumni from these institutions had prided in this connection. In their
conversations, they often pulled out the stories of atrocities and heinous
crimes that had done in the name of ragging. It
grew with time. In 2007, Vishwa Jagriti Mission filed a PIL in the
Supreme Court to curb the menace of ragging. The supreme court had given a landmark
judgment against PIL by the University of Kerela vs. Council Principals, Colleges Kerala & Ors to
curb ragging.
Under laws in India, ragging is defined as:
(i)
Any disorderly conduct by either by acts or words spoken, the effect of which
is teasing, treating, or handling with rudeness any other student;
(ii)
Any rowdy or undisciplined activity, which causes annoyance, hardship, or
psychological harm;
(iii)
Raise fear or apprehension thereof in the minds of junior
(iv)
Asking the students to do any act or perform something, which such student will
not do in the ordinary course, which has the effect of causing shame or
embarrassment to adversely affect the physique or psyche of a junior student
Laws to tackle ragging:
Some
states have their legislation regarding ragging. Those without legislation
handle ragging as per central legislations. These are
- Indian Penal Code
- UGC Regulations On Curbing The
Menace Of Ragging In Higher Educational Institutions, 2009
- Other institute specific
regulations
For
any ragging related offense, the institute has to lodge an FIR in the nearest
Police station. The provisions under IPC which can be used are
IPC
·
294 – Obscene acts and songs
·
323 – punishment for voluntarily causing hurt
·
324 – voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous
weapon or means
·
325 – punishment for voluntarily causing
grievous hurt
·
326 – voluntarily causing grievous hurt by
dangerous weapon
·
339 – Wrongful Restraint
·
340 – Wrongful Confinement
·
341 – Punishment for Wrongful Restraint
·
342 – Punishment for Wrongful Confinement
·
506 – Punishment for culpable homicide not
amounting to murder
UGC has also brought the UGC
Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational
Institutions, 2009. It has given certain directives such as
(1) Publishing
ragging is banned: The institutes will set up notices declaring ragging free campus
(2) Brochures/Application
Form/Enrollment Form: Institutes have to write all the guidelines related
to ragging
(3) Affidavit of Student:
On
admission to the institute, a student has to give an affidavit mentioning nonparticipation
in any kind of ragging related activity.
(4) Anti-Ragging Committee: Setting up of anti-ragging committee with the head of the institute as
the chairman. The committee should have a diverse mix of members which handles
ragging related cases.
(5) Anti-ragging squad: The Institute has to set up an anti-ragging squad to monitor ragging on
the institute campus.
(6) Anti-Ragging Helpline: The institute has to set up notice boards mentioning anti-ragging helpline
numbers for newly admitted students.
(Author: Dr. Madhurjya Saikia, Lecture Given at DUIET, Dibrugarh University for Newly Inducted Students 2020)
Reference:
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragging
(2)https://www.indiatimes.com/news/world/5-cases-of-ragging-in-india-that-shocked-the-world-278321.html
You can buy B.Tech Guide Book by Madhurjya Saikia for insight into B.Tech World
You can follow us on Twitter: The Review