[ToI] Students clash over 'ragging' incident

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HYDERABAD: Clashes broke out between students of Nizam College on Friday following an alleged ragging incident on the campus. Police had to resort to a mild lathicharge and eight students of the college were arrested.

Abids police booked cases under section 70 B of City Police Act and 323 IPC against the students. They were later released on bail.

A group of second year BA students had called for a mass boycott of classes on Thursday demanding suspension of 10 final year students for allegedly ragging first year students.

Following this, final year students retaliated on Friday by storming into the principal's office, demanding that the second year students substantiate the allegations against them.

Both second year and final year students came to blows outside the principal's office around 11 am. Police had to intervene and resorted to lathicharge when the situation went out of control.

Around 20 policemen were deployed on the campus to maintain peace.

Nizam College principal, however, said there was no reported instance of ragging on the campus and the agitation between the students was to settle personal and political scores. "The anti-ragging committee on the campus did not get any complaints of ragging from any student,'' said the principal, Prof S Satyanarayana.

The five-member committee has called representatives of both the groups on Saturday to sort out the issue.

Many of the students of the college felt that the fight was a fallout of the traditional rivalry between the ABVP and SFI students. "There were instances of tension between final and second year students even months after the academic year began. Ragging was brought in as a pretext to settle scores,"a final year student of BA economics said.

[Hindu] No relief from ragging

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Charging that there has been “no respite” from ragging in educational institutions across the country despite the Supreme Court directing them to put down the menace with an iron hand, a non-profit organisation, “Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education” (CURE), has said that as many as 52 cases of ragging have been reported in the media since this past May.

CURE has made a list of these cases from the online archives of the country’s leading newspapers.

“Our research has revealed that 52 cases of ragging have been reported in the online editions of the national English media since May 21, 2007. Contrast this with only 15 cases in the same period last year that indicates that reporting levels have remarkably improved. However, from the severity of the situation, it is also clear that the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee have been unable to act as any deterrent to prevent senior students from breaking the law,” said Harsh Agarwal, a CURE coordinator.

“A preliminary analysis of the cases reveals six suicides, three attempted suicides, 17 cases of reported physical abuse and several other cases involving sexual, verbal and drug abuse. It is clear that the Supreme Court interim judgement has not been implemented in letter and in spirit by the law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders,” he said.

CURE has observed that despite the Supreme Court emphasising the need for educating society and spreading awareness on this issue, not much seems to have been done at the national level.

“We maintain that ragging cannot be combated by deterrence alone. The psycho-social aspects of ragging need to be understood thoroughly and this menace needs to be tackled through a three-pronged approach involving education and awareness, providing alternate means of interaction along with strict implementation of deterring laws,” asserted Harsh Agarwal.

Indira Gandhi National Open University has launched an International Ph.D. programme that is available in various disciplines.

The prospectus will be available on www.ignou.ac.in. The applications will be received at the International Division at IGNOU. There will be two sessions for the Ph.D. programme every year -- in January and July.

Jagannath International Management School (JIMS), Vasant Kunj, has launched a unique weekly interactive programme for policemen who are being given communication lessons. The programme is aimed at understanding their problems and placing them in the company of local residents for a dialogue.

The six-week programme was launched recently with policemen drawn from the Vasant Kunj and Delhi Cantonment police stations.

The Institute has also adopted a nearby village, Masoodpur, as its “media laboratory” to assess the impact of communication on the development of an urban village.

The MBA students at the Faculty of Management Studies at Delhi University conducted an online services conclave titled “ClickIT- The World at your Click” last week.

The conclave was organised by “Synopsys” -- the systems, operations and consulting society at FMS -- and aimed at recognising the emergence of the online services industry. The speakers were leaders from the industry who addressed various functional aspects of such services like change in business models, content protection issues, and interaction between suppliers and end users.

Parul Sharma

[NewIndPress] Mar Ivanios expels 7 students

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Tuesday September 25 2007 04:56 IST

Express News Service

T'PURAM: Seven students, including four boys and three girls, have been expelled from the Mar Ivanios College in the city after they were found guilty of ragging a first-year degree girl student.

Dixon A, Sunil S, Visakh V K, Pramod Augustine, Nissy R, Rakhi Mohan and Shabna S, all final-year degree students, were expelled from the college.

A commission of inquiry, appointed by the college to probe into the incident that took place on August 8, had found all the seven students guilty of ragging that even continued outside the college campus. On the basis of the inquiry report, the College Council recommended expulsion of the seven students, a statement from the College Principal said here on Monday.

The Peroorkada Police, which had registered a case in this connection, have almost completed the probe. Charges, including rioting and ragging, would be framed against the accused, police sources said. The victim of the incident was a first-year BA Literature student of the college who hails from Panavila. She was ragged by the gang of seven students. As the level of ragging went beyond tolerable limits, the girl refused to concede to the commands of the gang.

Later, while she was riding home on her two-wheeler, four boys of the ‘ragging gang’ chased her in motor bikes and irritated her. As the degree of teasing escalated, the girl lost control of her vehicle and fell on the road near Paruthippara.

Local people who witnessed the incident gathered on the spot and intercepted the boys. They were later handed over to the Peroorkada Police. The three girls later surrendered before the police. All the seven were immediately suspended from the college.

The commission found that the accused had caused mental and physical agony to the girl student by their rash behaviour. The incident had also brought infamy to the college, the commission observed.

[Telegraph] Ragging Alarm

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The number of ragging incidents in the past four mon ths across the country has more than tripled over the same period last year, an anti-ragging forum told PTI.

The Coalition to Up- root Ragging from Educ- ation said 52 cases were reported between May 21 and September 21 compared wi-th 15 in the same period in 2006, the for-um said.

[OneIndia] Despite SC observations, ragging continues unabated: NGO

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Sunday, September 23 2007 15:15 (IST) RSS

New Delhi, Sep 23 (UNI) Hopes of freshers getting some respite from "ragging blues" seem to be belied, with recent research indicating a rise in the number of ragging incidents across the country despite the Supreme Court stressing the need for educating society and rasiing awareness on this issue.

A recent survey by Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), a non-profit organisation dedicated solely towards the elimination of ragging and promotion of more positive ways of interaction among seniors and freshers in Indian universities, has shown that there has been a phenomenal spate of ragging incidents reported from across the country in the past four months.

CURE research has revealed 52 ragging incidents reported in the online editions of national English media since May 21 till date, an over three fold increase from only 15 cases in the same period last year.

Preliminary analysis of the cases reveal six suicides, another three attempted suicides, 17 cases of reported physical abuse and several other cases involving sexual, verbal and drug abuse.

Among some of the notable cases in the past four months was the case of a first year engineering college student of Mallabum Institute of Technology being forced to consume narcotics like marijuana, brown sugar over four days in May 25. A separate case involved stripping of three first year students of Kurnool Medical college in July.

In another case, a fresher at the BIT Ranchi consumed poison after a bout of depression brought about by ragging in August.

In a case at GMC, Chandigarh in August, freshers reported that they were asked to abuse each other verbally, propose in a vulgar manner and act obscenely. Girls were asked to dance to pelvic thrusts and boys had to fly while verbally abusing themselves.

''It is clear that the Supreme Court's nterim judgement has not been implemented in letter and spirit by the law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders. CURE also observed that despite the Supreme Court emphasising need for educating the society and spreading awareness on this issue, not much seems to have been done at the national level,'' the report said.

The rise in the number of ragging incidents smacked in the face of the much publicised work of the Raghavan committee added.

''Hopes of freshers to get some respite from the archaic 'tradition' of ragging seem to be dying now,''it said.

The report also suggested that there was a need to combat the menace of ragging through a three pronged approach.

''CURE continues to maintain the firm stand that ragging cannot be combated by deterrence alone. The psycho-social aspects of ragging need to be understood thoroughly and ragging needs to tackled through a three-pronged approach involving education and awareness, providing alternate means of interaction along with strict implementation of deterring laws,''the report said.

UNI AR MS VC1515

[Tribune] Ragging menace persists on campuses: NGO

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New Delhi, September 23
In spite of the anti-ragging measures initiated by the Supreme Court, a recent research by an NGO has indicated a rise in ragging incidents across the country.

A recent survey by Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), 52 ragging incidents were reported in the online editions of national English media since May 21 till date, an over three fold increase from only 15 cases in the same period last year.

Preliminary analysis of the cases reveal six suicides, another three attempted suicides, 17 cases of reported physical abuse and several other cases involving sexual, verbal and drug abuse.

Among some of the notable cases in the past four months was the case of a first year engineering college student of Mallabum Institute of Technology being forced to consume narcotics like marijuana, brown sugar over four days in may 25. A separate case involved stripping of three first year students of Kurnool medical college in july.

In another case, a fresher at the BIT Ranchi consumed poison after a bout of depression brought about by ragging in august. In a case at GMC Chandigarh in august, freshers reported that they were asked to abuse each other verbally, propose in a vulgar manner and act obscenely ‘’It is clear that the supreme court’s interim judgement has not been implemented in letter and spirit by the law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders. We also observed that despite the supreme court emphasising need for educating the society and spreading awareness on this issue, not much seems to have been done at the national level,’’ the report said.

According to the report the recommendations of the Raghavan Committee are not being properly implemented at many of the higher educational institutions. A three pronged approach has been proposed to weed out ragging menace from educational institutions across the country.

‘’The psycho-social aspects of ragging need to be understood thoroughly and ragging needs to tackled through education and awareness, providing alternate means of interaction along with strict implementation of deterring laws,’’ the report said.—UNI

[DNA] Three-fold increase in ragging incidents

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PTI
Sunday, September 23, 2007 17:01 IST

NEW DELHI: There is an over three-fold increase in the figures of ragging cases reported from across the country in the last four months compared with the same period last year, an anti-ragging forum claimed on Sunday.

According to 'Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education' (CURE), there were 52 incidents of ragging reported in the media between May 21 and September 21.

The figures for the corresponding period last year was 15, it said adding they have arrived at the statistics by going through the reports appearing on online editions of national English newspapers.

Preliminary analysis reveals that there were six suicides and three attempted suicides due to ragging and 17 instances of physical abuse, the CURE said.

In an interim order, the Supreme Court had on May 20 said an FIR must be filed in case of incidences of ragging and courts should ensure that such cases are taken on a priority basis.

[NDTV] Medical student ends life due to ragging

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Press Trust of India
Thursday, September 20, 2007 (Mysore)

A first-year student of Mysore Medical College committed suicide on Thursday allegedly due to ragging, police said.

Chetan Raj, 18, was allegedly subjected to ragging by senior students and he took the extreme step by hanging himself from the ceiling of his lodge room.

Raj, son of a BSNL employee in Shimoga, joined the college on September 10 and was staying in college hostel.

According to his parents, Chetan had returned to Shimoga on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi festival on September 15.

He complained that he was being subjected to ragging. His father decided to get him a paying guest accommodation in Mysore.

Accordingly, he vacated the college hostel and checked into a lodge on September 16, pending his accommodation as a paying guest. His body was found hanging from the roof of his lodge room on Thursday.

Police have registered a case and are investigating. Hostel wardens said they were also inquiring into circumstances leading to Chetan's suicide.

[ToI] Police file FIR in hostel ragging case

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17 Sep 2007, 0406 hrs IST,TNN

LUCKNOW: A named FIR was registered against five persons in the ragging of MCA student Sanjay Pal Singh. Three of the accused lived in the private hostel, Anand Villa, while two are outsiders. Sanjay had gone into a state of acute psychosis after being ragged. He is undergoing treatment in CSMMU.

The hostel authorities have claimed that Sanjay suffered from some psychiatric problems even before joining the hostel. However, his relatives have refuted this claim.

Sanjay's father, Ajay Pal Singh lodged an FIR with the Madiaon police station on Sunday that his son was ragged by inmates of Anand Villa Hostel located in the area. Ajay has named RS Tripathi, Vikas Gupta, Pravin Chaudhary and other unidentified inmates of the hostel as the accused. Two outsiders - Naaus and Mama - were also a party to the crime. They have been accused of mental and physical torture. Naaus and Mama threatened Sanjay with dire consequences. The FIR also states that though the warden was informed about the incident no action was taken.

Sanjay's family finally shifted him to the house of his local guardian. However, on Saturday, when Sanjay was going in a city bus to attend his classes, the five accused stopped the bus. They threatened and abused him after which Sanjay left his bag in the bus and ran for his life. He has been behaving like a deranged person ever since. Sanjay was admitted to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Medical University's (CSMMU) psychiatry ward on Saturday.

Sanjay has been in a delirious state and has been shouting names of the students who ragged him and saying they will kill him. "He has been kept under heavy sedation, so we have not been able to take his version. We have been told that Sanjay has a history of psychiatric problems. But investigations are on," said SP (TG), Umesh Kumar Singh.

The warden of Anand Villa Hostel, Gyan Prakash Srivastava said, "Sanjay was a bit eccentric. He used to keep awake the entire night. He was suspicious of others and whenever he saw two people talking, he used to think they were talking about him." He added that Sanjay was given a room of his choice but he started having problems with other students.

Refuting the charges that Sanjay had psychiatric problems, Sanjay's local guardian Sudhakar Singh told TOI, "Sanjay had joined the hostel only 15 days back. How did the hostel authorities come to know that he was mentally sick? You can go to his village- Dhanautia in Bareilly district- and find out. Everybody knows he had no such ailment." Sudhakar pleaded that such a serious case of ragging should not be made frivolous by such accusations. "Sanjay was saved on time else he could have run away from home or committed suicide," he said.

[NewKerala] Ragging issue: Students resort to violence in college

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Chengalpattu, Sep 19 : The ragging of a fresher by the seniors at the Government law college here, snowballed into a law and order problem with students resorting to violence on the college campus.

Police said after a first year girl student Azgaguvalli (19) complained of ragging by a senior student, her brother came to the college along with his supporters in six cars to ''enquire'' into the incident.

Even as Mr Palanivel Rajan, brother of Azhaguvalli met the Principal and resolved the issue after summoning the senior student, Devakumar (20), word spread in the campus that rowdies had come to the college to attack the students.

The enraged students assembled quickly and damaged the cars, using stones and wooden logs. Senior police officials, led by District Superintendent of Police rushed to the spot and restored order.

Police registered complaints filed by the girl student, who was recently married, her brother Mr Palanivel Rajan, who is the state functionary of Moovendar Pasarai and student representative Muniselvam and investigating.

--- UNI

[SaharaSamay] Ragging kills another student

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Posted at Wednesday, 19 September 2007 15:09 IST

Indore, Sep 19: An MCA student committed suicide by hanging himself in his room as he found it unbearable to face ragging by seniors on regular basis, Sahara Samay sources said.

Durgesh Shukla, who hailed from Khandwa, was doing MCA from Pioneer Institute here.

A suicide note has been recovered from Durgesh’s possession.

Earlier, Durgesh had told his friend about the ragging and was reeling under depression.

In his suicide note, Durgesh has blamed his seniors for forcing him to take the extreme step but has not named anyone.

Police are probing the case.

[Hindu] A management and a law student thrashed in ragging in UP, MP

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Lucknow-Bhopal, Sept. 17 (PTI): A management student has landed in a hospital's psychiatry ward after being beaten and humiliated while a law student was physically assaulted in two separate incidents of brutal ragging by seniors in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Sanjay Singh, a student of Sahara Arts and Management Academy in Lucknow, was allegedly ragged by students from Lucknow University and some other nearby institutions who lived in the same hostel in the outskirts of the city, police said.

Vivek Rai, LLB (Hons) first year student staying in the hostel of Dr Hari Singh Gaur Vishwavidyalaya in Sagar in Madhya Pradesh , has complained to Superintendent of Police Mohammad Shahid Absar, that senior hostel-mates had ragged him by physically assaulting him.

Both the incidents occurred on September 15 and police have registered cases.

Singh has lost his mental balance following the assault, police sources said but hostel authorities claimed that the victim who lived in a private hostel in Madiaon in Lucknow district was suffering from mental disorder.

He was suffering from acute psychosis and was undergoing treatment in the psychiatry ward of the medical college here, hostel authorities added.

Singh was allegedly beaten and humiliated while on his way to his college in a bus on September 15 last, following which he ran away from the hostel, police said.

An FIR was lodged by the victim's local guardian in which three inmates of the hostel were named, sources said, adding that investigation in the matter matter was on.

In Sagar, Vivek Rai has named four students - Akhilesh Verma, Pradeep Tiwari, Manish Tiwari and Sudeep Samdalia - and alleged they entered his room late that night and demanded money for consuming liquor.

When Rai refused, he was taken to another room and asked to follow their orders, the complaint said, adding when he declined again, he was beaten up by them.

The victim has also alleged some seniors kept arms and ammunition in the hostel to terrorise the juniors.

Meanwhile, the university administration has said that strict action will be taken against the accused students if the ragging charge was proved in the police inquiry.

[Hindu] Shocking incident of ragging in city

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HYDERABAD: A shocking incident of a physically-challenged first year girl student of a premier learning institute for disabled being assaulted and also “punished” by her senior in the name of ragging came to light on Sunday. The victim, Kanika Pathak, a student of B.Sc (Audiology, Speech Language Pathology - ASLP), of the southern regional centre of the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Hearing Handicapped (NIHH), Secunderabad, was slapped and pinched by her immediate senior, K. Priyadarshini, a few days ago.

Girl threatened

Ms. Pathak was also forced to stand on the chair in the clinical classroom by another senior. She and her fellow classmates were threatened of dire consequences if they reported the matter to the higher authorities. But their threat was misplaced because the authorities do not appear to have taken the matter seriously. In fact, the juniors were told to withdraw their complaint. This, even after a three-member teachers committee which probed the incident confirmed that ragging was unabated in the hostel and clinics for the last two months. In her complaint, Ms. Pathak said that she was “physically tortured” (sic) by Priyadarshini on September 7 evening. “I request you to take serious action on the issue as the limits have crossed,” she appealed.

Eleven of her classmates signed as witnesses in the letter addressed to the Institute’s Assistant Director.

The teachers’ panel of Jyothi (Students Welfare Officer), Sudheer Bhan (Tutor) and K. Dayalan (Hostel Warden) in their report were unambiguous that “senior students ask first year students to slap each other in the hostel, stand for hours and abuse them if their demands are not met” like ironing their clothes, making notes, etc.

However, Institute’s Assistant Director S.G.R. Prakash claimed this was a “small issue” between the seniors and juniors and it was “not ragging.”

[SundayTimes] Ragging: Suspects get bail

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By L.B.Senaratne

Kandy Chief Magistrate told three suspects who were produced in courts on charges of having assaulted a group of seven freshers who were against ragging, that no one was above the law and the law of the country had to be abided by everyone irrespective of whether they were university students or any one else.

The suspects were earlier identified at an identification parade and Kandy magistrate Harsha Setunge said he was releasing them on bail considering their status as students.

[DailyTimes] College ragging not flagging

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By Saif-ur-Rehman

LAHORE: The long summer break is over and classes have re-started at the city’s colleges. Some students are new entrants, while the rest have been promoted to higher classes.

The new entrants are nervous about their unfamiliar surroundings and huddle together for a sense of security. This insecurity does not stem from a fear of the new campus or of teachers or of the course of study. They fear what freshman all over the city fear: being ragged.

Ragging is the systematic ritual physical and psychological abuse of freshmen or other juniors by their seniors in an educational setup, with the purported intent of socially inducting the newcomers into the group. It is widely practised in schools and colleges across the world and includes verbal and physical ragging.

Daily Times conducted a survey of various colleges and talked to freshman and seniors about the first day at college.

Lahore School of Economics: Most MBA-I and 2nd year bachelors students uderwent some sort of ragging. Most of it was verbal and nothing serious. Qasim Zia, an MBA-I student, said he was told to stand on top of a table in the main cafeteria and sing his favourite song. “Everybody at the café joined in and sang along. It was a lot of fun,” he added.

Mehvish Saleem, a 2nd bachelors student, said raggers told her to give them all the money she had in her bag. “The raggers ended up making Rs 3,000. The money was well spent on a round of drinks for all at the café. The ice has been broken and everyone knows me now,” she said.

Mohsin Khan, an MBA-II student, told Daily Times that his group caught hold od a junior and made him sit in a murgha position for five minutes. “We also took money from him and treated the entire MBA-II batch to drinks,” he said, adding that he was never physical with juinors.

Lahore University of Management Sciences: Freshman at this institution have to undergo a more serious kind of ragging. Ragging styles range from standing on one foot for a long time to measuring a large courtyard with a ballpoint cap.

Ali Jan, a freshman, said he was told to do front rolls in the football field. “The field was wet and I got mud in my ears and clothes. The best part about all this was that I went home to change my clothes and did not return,” he added.

Alia Haider, another freshman, said raggers told her to go up to 10 boys and introduce herself to them. She said, “It was a bit embarassing because I am a bit shy. The boys were sweet about the whole affair.”

Beaconhouse National University: This year seniors at BNU went around taxing the new students and made about Rs 500 per head, but spent them on treating the freshmen. They also caught hold of a couple of boys, made them stand on tables and strut like models.

Osmanul Amin, in his last year, said the raggers filmed the boys and would keep the shots in their archives. “Maybe, at the end of the term, they make a video of their college experiences and add these shots in them,” he added.

National College of Arts: Seniors at NCA are most creative when it comes to ragging freshman. Zara, who graduated from NCA in 2002, said she was asked to hug a tree in the middle of a courtyard and scream on the top of her lungs ‘mein tum say pyar karti hoon’.

Ashraf Azhar, another graduate, said, “We would keep a Rs 1,000 note next to the gate and stand around watching who would pick it up. The first freshman to pick it up got it from us. We would start screaming ‘chor, chor’, which would be very embarassing for him or her.”

All students Daily Times talked to said ragging was not bad or harmful as long as it was not physical. They said seniors knew their limits and would not push freshman. “This is common culture and we have come to accept it. It has a positive effect on the personality of the freshman and helps with breaking the ice amongst students. We are being ragged today. Tomorrow it is us who will be doing the ragging,” said LSE freshman Asma Obaid.

[ToI] Boy loses 'sanity' after ragging

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16 Sep 2007, 0231 hrs IST,TNN

LUCKNOW: An MCA student slipped into the state of acute psychosis on Saturday after being brutally tortured by a group of Lucknow University students.

He has been admitted to the psychiatry department of Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University, where his condition was stated as "serious but stable" by doctors.

Son of Bareilly resident Ajay Pal Singh, Sanjay Pal had recently taken admission in a private college affiliated to UP Technical University. Since the college had no hostel facility, the student was living in a nearby private hostel.

[DNA] Ragging menace on rise in Bengal

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KOLKATA: West Bengal has once again been rocked by a spate of ragging incidents sending shock and fear amongst aspiring engineers and their parents.

In last couple of months eight incidences of ragging have been reported from different engineering colleges of the state and majority of them involved severe physical injuries to students. Last week it was height of it. A first year student of a private engineering college in Bankura district, Sudipto Mondal, was pushed from his hostel's second floor during ragging.

While Sudipto is still fighting for his life with multiple injuries in a nursing home in Bankura, the police is yet to arrest the six absconding senior raggers, against whom FIRs were registered.

Two days back before Sudipto's incident, a fourth year student of Bengal Engineering & Science University (Besu) was severely thrashed up by his own classmates, when he tried to resist them from ragging a junior, first year student. As first, the university authorities tried to hush up the entire incident but later it looked into the matter.

Similarly, last month, a first year student of the same institute of Bankura was forced to walk on balcony railings. Not being able to maintain balance he fell down and sustained severe injuries. No action was taken against the alleged students.

Former dean of Jadavpur University, S Roy said the regional and private engineering colleges should follow the IITs in checking ragging for good. According to him, the IITs have strictly decided that any student found guilty of ragging will be instantly expelled from the institute.

[Telegraph] Students allege mass ragging

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OUR CORRESPONDENT

Behrampore, Sept. 14: Fourteen first-year students, who had had enough of stripping in front of seniors, doing sit-ups and touching their feet, have filed a police complaint against them.

Police raided the Kandi Raj College hostel for eight second and three third year-students last night. They were missing.

“Every night, we were asked to do sit-ups at least a hundred times and touch their feet. We were forced to dance in our underwear. If we disobeyed them, they beat us up with sticks and made us write indecent things about our families,” a first-year student said.

The hostel with 60 students does not have a full-time su- perintendent. Indrajit Das, a non-teaching employee, is in charge. He declined comment.

The college tried to play down the charge. “They were hurt by the seniors’ jokes. It was not ragging,” principal Rashbehari Sinha said.

[NavhindTimes] Freshers’ Woes

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EDITORIAL

Though belated the government of Goa finally came to realize the need for having an anti-ragging bill. The delay probably owed to the fact that instances of ugly ragging— psychological, social, political, economic, cultural — against the freshers in the educational institutions in Goa so far did not surface. But the fact remains the government preferred to have Goa Prohibition Of Ragging Bill 2007 on the statute book under pressure from the parents and academics to prohibit the practice of ragging.

The provisions of the Bill appear to be tough, but a closer look makes it clear that there are certain loopholes. What should be the criteria for convicting the guilty? Who is to frame the charges leading to conviction? For acting against the culprit it is imperative that a complainant should be there. In this regard the observation of the Raghavan committee is quite interesting. The committee notes: “Almost all the stake-holders have failed to act in curbing the menace of ragging in every State. The State Governments have not monitored if the ragging in their state has been curbed or not. The authorities of the institution have not played a pro-active role, which was very necessary in terms of the guidelines of the apex court, where primary responsibility was cast on the institutional authorities. On the contrary, it was told to the committee that the authorities dissuaded the victims of ragging from making any complaint.”

Prior to its order of 2006, which it issued taking cognizance of ragging as crime, the Supreme Court in fact in 2001 had issued certain guidelines. But those failed to counter the menace, as none was primarily held responsible for ensuring that ragging did not take place. The Supreme Court order (based on the recommendations) of May 16, 2007 makes it obligatory for academic institutions to file official First Information Reports with the police in any instance of a complaint of ragging. This would ensure that all cases would be formally investigated under criminal justice system, and not by the academic institutions own ad-hoc bodies. Any failure on the part of the institutional authority or negligence or deliberate delay in lodging the FIR shall be construed to be an act of culpable negligence. It would be better to incorporate some of the recommendations of the Raghavan committee in the proposed Bill.

It would be appropriate to mention increasing privatisation of higher education is witnessing sustained increase in ragging related excesses. Unfortunately for fear of losing their credibility these institutions do not allow the victim students to report the incidents to the police. According to the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education at least 25 students have succumbed to the brutalities of ragging in the past seven years. In many cases, complaints by victims have fallen on deaf ears.

Ragging is a perverse and cruel activity and the reason for indulging in this activity is to show off power and authority. It needs to be perceived as a failure to inculcate human values from the schooling stage. Obviously any attempt to curb the menace must have a wider framework. Besides making responsible the academic institutions for tackling the menace, behavioural patterns among students, particularly potential ‘raggers’, need to be identified. The measures must really be deterrent in nature.

[Tribune] Ragging: Probe ordered

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Jalandhar
Ragging: Probe ordered: Taking a serious note of the alleged ragging incident at Doaba College, principal Dr R.P. Bhardwaj has constituted an inquiry committee into the matter. The five-member committee will meet students concerned to probe and find out the truth. The principal said the committee had been instructed to submit its report in three days.

[Hindu] Probe into ragging at Govt college

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Kumbakonam, Sept. 12 (PTI): A probe has been initated after some students of the Government Arts and Crafts here lodged a complaint about ragging, police said.

The complaint was given to Kumbakonam DSP by on Nalini and some other students of the college, they said.

Police officials visited the college yesterday to inquire into the alleged incident.

Meanwhile, the principal of the college M Balasubramanian said they were keeping a strict vigil to prevent ragging in the college.

He, however, said that the students have directly gone to the police without informing them about the ragging, arousing suspicion.

[Hindu] 15 MBBS students expelled for ragging

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Kanpur: Fifteen second year MBBS students have been expelled from a medical college hostel here after a disciplinary committee indicted them in an incident of ragging in August.

The administration has expelled them on the charge of “misbehaving with first year students on the pretext of getting to know them,” Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College principal Professor S K Katiyar said on Wednesday.

He said the incident was brought to his notice in August and handed over to the disciplinary committee of the college which found them guilty of misbehaviour.

All the expelled students were residing in Hostel No 5, he said adding that the college had already suspended four students on charge of ragging in August. -- PTI

[Mangalorean] Mangalore: KPT students stage protest against principal

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Mangalore Sept 12: A section of students of Karnataka Polytechnic (KPT), Kadri, in the City staged a protest in front of the institute on Tuesday, alleging that their principal has been treating them inhumanly and following step-motherly attitude.

The students studying in Civil and Automobiles Engineering departments gathered in the premises of college by 8.30 am and demanded that Principal B Vijaya Kumar should be transferred immediately, who "treats them as criminals".

The students alleged that the principal threatens them with police if they protest against his injustice and "mercilessly fails the students who do not attend his private tuition classes". Some of the female students complained that lady invigilators are not allowed into the examination halls, but the principal himself looks after the responsibility, and humiliates them.

Student leader Dheeraj said the regular students are being treated with a step-motherly attitude.

"More facilities are being provided to the continuing education unit and MSEZ students, while other students lack basic facilities in the college. The play ground of the institute cannot be used at all," he said.

The protesters also said a junior faculty has been appointed as the warden of the KPT hostel though there is a rule that the senior most person should be given the responsibility.

"The present warden is making imaginary allegations against the students and mentally tortures them," they complained.

Principal speaks

Amidst all these, the principal of the college B Vijaya Kumar had a different version to explain.

He told Deccan Herald that the students are protesting against the suspension of two students from the hostel, in the backdrop of a ragging incident.

He said two students of Civil Engineering department Vasanth and Prashanth were suspended for ragging their juniors in the hostel premises on September 4. "I am a strict disciplinarian and some students do not tolerate this.

Four students have given me a written complaint and on the recommendation of the warden Mohan Heble, I suspended them," he said.

Mr Kumar said he tried to convince the students but they continued with the protest.

However, the students said 'ragging' is not at all the issue of their protest, as "there were no such incidents".

DHNS

[Hindu] Student injured during ragging

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Bankura (WB), Sept. 11 (PTI): A student of an engineering college in this district of West Bengal was seriously injured when he was allegedly pushed from his hostel's second floor during ragging, a senior police official said today.

Sudipto Mondal, a first year student of Bankura Mallabhum Institute of Technology at Bishnupur was pushed by his seniors on Sunday during ragging and fell to the ground, Superintendent of Police, Rajesh Kumar Sinha told PTI here.

A resident of Arambagh in Hooghly district, Mondal has been admitted to a private nursing home and his condition was stated to be serious, police sources said.

Mondal's father has lodged an FIR against six senior students of the institute who are absconding, the SP added.

[PunjabNewsline] College management to be responsible for ragging, says Punjab Medical Education minister

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Punjab Newsline Network
Sunday, 09 September 2007

CHANDIGARH: Tikshan Sud Medical Education and Research Minister Sunday issued direction to all Principals and staff of all Government and Private Medical and dental colleges to effectively ensure ban on ragging of new students in their respective institutes.

In a communiqué the Minister said that any laxity shown by management, administration, Principal, faculty or staff in implementing the guidelines would be treated very seriously and would invite stern disciplinary action. He reiterated that management, principal and staff to take effective steps to ensure that no new student becomes victim of this wrong practice of ragging.

Calling upon the principals to remain constantly vigilant against this practice and monitor the situation on day to day basis, he said that principal and staff must watch the attitude of new comers and any sign of depression noticed in new student should be probed deeply.

Making an impassioned appeal to the senior students to welcome the new students with love instead of ragging them, he said that junior students expect senior students to depict leadership qualities in such situations.

Issuing the stern warning to take criminal action against any student indulging in ragging, the Minister also appealed to new students to oppose heinous practice of ragging and immediately report the incident to the Principal and to the higher authorities.

[ToI] Five NRI students 'ragged' at SPA

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NEW DELHI: Even as the Supreme Court-appointed Raghavan committee has made ragging in higher education institutions a cognisable offence, its ghost seems to be haunting the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) with a guardian lodging two complaints of freshers being coerced into doing activities against their will by the seniors.

Krishna K Jha, local guardian of two NRI students from Bangladesh, claims to have complained to director KT Ravindaran and hostel warden Rajprakash that some first-year students, including his wards and three other NRIs from UAE, Canada and South Africa have been ragged regularly since the start of the session in the hostels on both the ITO and Maharani Bagh campuses.

However, the director has refused to acknowledge any kind of written complaint though Rajprakash admitted that Jha had made allegations of ragging.

"I had received an anonymous call complaining about this but not received any written complaint," Ravindaran said. When asked to elaborate on his comment, he retorted: "I don't want to talk to you."

But Rajaprakash said: "I received a complaint from Jha but we cannot take it seriously unless students themselves come forward. Even the freshers have refused any kind of coercion." In his complaint, Jha alleged that some senior girls "call junior boys and girls to their rooms and rag them all night".

Since the classes started on August 1, first-year residents in all three hostels — one for girls at ITO and one each for boys and girls at Maharani Bagh — have been allegedly subjected to ragging in different forms, Jha claims.

"In the first two weeks, freshers at ITO hostel were called for introduction in a room at night and were asked to learn the names of their seniors. They were not allowed to leave the room the entire night. seniors warned them of dire consequences if they talked about it," Jha said.

The complaints, copies of which are with TOI, further read that some first-year female residents from the ITO hostel were forced to go to Maharani Bagh boy’s hostel and were asked to "smoke, drink and do other activities against their will, and were forced to sign on a white paper that they went to the hostel willingly".

It reads on: "One day, students from Maharani Bagh hostel came in front of the women’s hostel and used abusive language..."

Talking to Times City, Jha said: "I had informed the hostel warden about these incidents on phone in August but no action was taken. Later, on September 4, I faxed a written complaint to the warden and the director informing them about the incident."

Jha lodged a fresh complaint on September 5 after a few more cases of harassment on September 3 and September 4 — details of which were given to TOI — surfaced against the seniors.

Jha’s second complaint read: "Students are afraid and shy to tell you about the situation...hope that you will take immediate action to stop ragging."

And when TOI approached first-year students at the ITO hostel, many of them refused to speak. One of them, on the condition of anonymity, said: "We were asked to introduce ourselves and were asked to learn the names of the seniors."

Another added: "We have to be friends with seniors as they would help us later."

sonia.sarkar@timesgroup.com

[SaharaSamay] Twelve students injured in clash over ragging

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Posted at Saturday, 08 September 2007 12:09 IST

Ghaziabad (UP), Sep 8: As many as 12 students of an engineering college in Modinagar were injured in a clash between the two groups over a ragging incident, the police said today.

Police used batons to disperse the clashing senior and junior students of K.M. Modi engineering college last evening.

The junior students alleged that they were forced to strip by some final year students, but the management did not take any action.

However, the police said no complaint was lodged in this regard. The students alleged that police did not enter their complaint under pressure from the college management.

[Yahoo] Ragging: HC asks principal to be responsible for security of students

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By IE
Saturday September 8, 03:37 AM

The Calcutta High Court today asked the principal of an engineering college to ensure the safety and security of a student, who had been ragged by his seniors.

Justice Biswanath Somadder directed the principal of Mallabhum Engineering College, Bishnupur, to take responsibility for the security of Soumya Roy, a first-year student of electronics and communication at the college.

Soumya had filed a petition in the High Court after being ragged and beaten up by his seniors. He had refused to take drugs, which the seniors had demanded.

In his plea, the student had asked the court to direct the institute to transfer him to another engineering college. He had also alleged that he was not safe in this college.

After the incident, his father had lodged a complaint in Bishnupur police station against Prantik Chatterjee, Biplab Mallick and Bhargab Das, senior students of that institution. Police had arrested the three and the ACJM, Bishnupur had refused to grant bail to them on two occasions. They were later released on bail following an order by the Calcutta High Court.

The college authorities had set up a committee to probe the incident. But the committee, in a report, had stated that Soumya was not ragged. Interestingly, while hearing the bail plea, the ACJM, Bishnupur, had observed that the committee was an eyewash and had been set up only to conceal the truth.

[NewIndPress] Four suspended for ragging

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Friday September 7 2007 09:21 IST

ENS

VIJAYAWADA: Four students of NTR College of Veterinary Science at Gannvaram, who were arrested on charges of ragging, have been suspended from college for one month, according to college associate dean and in-charge principal Dr K Prabhakar.

[Statesman] Law student from Raiganj ragged in Bolpur

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Radhamadhab Saha

RAIGANJ, Sept 5: Despite the government's tall claims, students of educational institutions in the state, it seems, are still not free from physical torture in the name of formal ragging by their seniors.

In one such incident, Sagnik Chakraborty, a first year student of Bolpur Law College in Birbhum and resident of Raiganj, was allegedly subjected to physical assault in the name of ragging by Bijoy Kumar Dey, a third year student of Bengal Institute of Technology, and his associates at a rented house in Bolpur. An injured Sagnik, who returned home today, had to undergo treatment at the Raiganj district hospital. His father, Mr Chandan Chakraborty, a teacher by profession, today lodged a complaint against Bijoy and his friends with the Raiganj police station.
Alleging that his son was subjected to physical assault, Mr Chakraborty demanded strong action against the accused students.

Sagnik, who passed HS examination from Kaliyaganj Parbati Sundari Higher Secondary School this year, took admission in Bolpur Law College. Talking to reporters here today, he said: "At Bolpur, I was living in a rented room at Udayanpally, around 10 km away from my college. Bijoy was also staying in the same house, though in another room. I used to take meal in another house with Bijoy and his associates. They were physically assaulting me in the name of ragging. Last Thursday, they tied up my eyes with handkerchief, placed me on the railing of the three-storyed building and instructed me to walk through the railing. After advancing two steps, I started losing balance and jumped on the right side building. I fell on the roof of another three-storyed building. Thanks God, I did not receive any major injury. However, Bijoy and his friends caught me again and touched my body parts with burning cigarette. As a result, I received burn injuries. I later informed the matter to my father who reached Bolpur the next day and brought me here."

Sagnik's father Mr Chandan Chakraborty said they will bring the matter to the notice of the Union I&B and parliamentary affairs minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, urging him to take action against the accused students.

Speaking to The Statesman over telephone, Dr Subir Roy, the teacher in-charge of Bolpur Law College, said: "The incident was unfortunate. Those who ragged Sagnik are not the students of our college. If we receive any written complaint from the victim, we will contact the BITM authorities over the issue and urge them to take action against the accused students."
The North Dinajpur SP, Mr SB Purnapatra, said they have informed the matter to Birbhum police officials.

[Yahoo] Ahmedabad college suspends two for ragging junior

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Ahmedabad (Gujarat): Even as Chennai has pledged to curb the menace of ragging in colleges, other cities are stepping forward and doing their bit.

In Ahmedabad, two postgraduate medical students at the V S Hospital have been suspended after they were accused of ragging a junior.

Tarek Patel and Prakash Sharda allegedly beat up their junior, Dr Mittal Dave. Dave has lodged a complaint with the local police.

The medical college, earlier acting on Dave's complaint, had initiated an internal enquiry into the incident.

This is not the first incident of ragging reported from V S Hospital. Several students have reportedly dropped out after being ragged by their seniors.

[ToI] Ragging case: Warden faces heat

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NAGPUR: The hostel inmates have lodged strong protest with the vice-chancellor S N Pathan and registrar Subhash Belsare against newly-appointed warden A Undirwade and police for harassing in the allege ragging case. The hostel inmates, however, refuted the allegations of ragging of Gulab Bawanthade and said that it was "personal dispute between him and accused Usmankhan Pathan".

They said that though the dispute is between two students, the police are unnecessarily harassing other students by entering into their rooms without permission and repeatedly questioning them at odd hours. They also alleged that policemen used abusive language and even threatened them with dire consequences, which is not only affecting their studies, but also instilled a sense of fear among them. They also alleged that Dr Undirwade had forcibly took their identity cards by entering their rooms late in the night and even recorded them on camera. They claimed that due to these unusual developments many students have left the hostel.

They threatened that if their harassment from warden and police is not stopped immediately, the university authorities should cancel their registration from the hostel and return their money. The university officials were not available for their comments. The controversy over five-decade-old hostel at Law College Square started when Gulab accused Usmankhan of physical and mental torture inside his room and subsequently lodged a police complaint alleging ragging. Usmankhan was later arrested by the police and released on the bail on Wednesday.