[Hindu] Crime in the name of fun

Link to report

Innocent fun or sadistic crime? `Ragging' describes a range of student activities and defies any one definition. Those who defend ragging as a natural part of college life and those who condemn it as a heinous crime are talking of very different things that go by the same name. The real problem is that what might begin as silly banter between two batches of students could easily degenerate into inhuman violence on college campuses that are not adequately supervised by educational authorities. By asking the Central Government to constitute a high-power committee to look into the problem of ragging in educational institutions, the Supreme Court has taken an important step in ensuring that unacceptable behaviour in the name of ragging rituals is kept out of campuses. The remit of the committee, to be headed by the former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, R.K. Raghavan, is to suggest measures to end ragging-related violence. While forming the committee, the Government should keep in mind the peculiarities of the problem, and nominate educationists, sociologists, psychologists, and parents and victims. A broad-based panel is essential to end the tendency among administrators to treat ragging as merely another instance of student indiscipline.

Several lives have been lost and many careers ruined on account of ragging — students unable to stand the humiliation of ragging have either taken their lives or quit their institutions within the first few months. The truth is that ragging is steeped in a pernicious student culture handed down from one batch to another. Perversely, this year's victims are next year's offenders. A self-perpetuating, vicious cycle of violence is formed, with senior students, especially those in the second year, targeting first-year juniors for ragging. Some colleges and hostels have `traditional' initiation ceremonies, which are seen as a way of making friends and facilitating interaction between seniors and juniors. Ragging, in many institutions, requires juniors to do menial jobs and even `home work' for the seniors. Professional colleges and residential institutions are especially prone to ragging. One inescapable conclusion is that students facing academic pressures find a vent in it when they get long hours away from the eyes of parents and teachers. Many States have specific laws against ragging, and in Tamil Nadu college administrators too will be held responsible under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Ragging Act, 1997, if they fail to prevent ragging in their institutions. Tough laws and strict supervision can certainly help control ragging, but the committee empowered by the Supreme Court needs to find ways to attack the very basis of the culture of ragging.