[NewIndPress] Jail term for ragging

Link to report

Friday June 13 2008 11:06 IST
Express News Service

T’PURAM: A youth was sentenced to six-and-a-half years imprisonment on Wednesday on charges of ragging his junior student at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital in 2001.

Shahid Mohammed, a native of Lakshadweep, who is now residing at Andaman, was sentenced by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-5 judge G P Jayakrishnan.

Out of the six-and-a-half year imprisonment, the convict will have to under go five-and-a-half years rigorous imprisonment.

The incident pertaining to the case occurred in October 2001. The prosecution case was that Shahid had forcibly subjected a first-year student Neeraj Kumar Gupta of Chhattisgarh to unnatural sex.

The incident occurred near the college hostel. Shahid was dismissed from the college following the incident.

[InsideKerala] Ragging: HC declines to order payment of compensations

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Friday, 04.01.2008, 04:42am (GMT)

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday decline to order payment compensation to an engineering student who had to discontinue studies on account of unbearable ragging by a group of senior students. Ramla Makkar , mother of the student, Muhammed Shah had claimed Rs. 2 lakh as compensation from the college authorities as they had failed to take action against the erring students. The court however directed the management to return Rs. 74,405 paid as fee by the student.

[NewKerala] Kerala HC asks govt to take effective action to end ragging

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Kochi, Dec 18: Dismissing the bail plea of five students in a ragging case, the Kerala High Court today said the state government should take effective steps to eliminate the ''pernicious practice from our campuses.''

Dismissing the bail application of Berin T Varghese and four other students of the Government Veterinary College, Mannuthi, accused in the attempted abetment of suicide by a junior student, Justice R Basant observed, ''the bane of ragging has been polluting the atmosphere in the professional college campuses of this country for a long period of time. The young students cannot be permitted to indulge in such vice.'' ''I have no doubt that prevention of ragging must now be held too serious a business to be left to the managements and principals of the colleges alone. Civil society has to intervene effectively to prevent such incidents in our campuses.'' The court also opined that strong legislative action supported by effective executive enforcement and judicial interpretation could certainly help the polity to prevent this vice.

The state had to undertake a minimum five-year ''war'' on ragging, not isolated skirmishes or battles to exterminate and eliminate this vice from the college campuses, the judge added.

Principals and managements must be compelled by law to cooperate with the law enthusiastically under threat of effective sanction, he said.

The history of war against ragging in the campus revealed that there had been no determined and positive action. The offence under the Kerala Prevention of Ragging Act was non-cognisable and bailable. The system could not expect the impossible from the police force. ''If you expect them to fight against ragging on behalf of the sublime polity of this country, they have to be equipped with necessary legal weapons,'' he added.

--- UNI

[Hindu] College prospectus must have expulsion warning on ragging: SC

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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday directed that universities and colleges shall, henceforth, mention in their admission prospectus that students who indulge in ragging would be expelled from the institution.

A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Aftab Alam, also said that its guidelines for ensuring ban of ragging in universities/colleges, shall apply to colleges under the Medical Council of India (MCI), Dental Council of India; polytechnics and those institutes under the Ministry of Agriculture.

The apex court passed the directions after the amicus curiae (friend of court) and Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam sought such directions, as many incidents of ragging continued to be reported in the country despite its earlier directions for implementation of the Raghavan committee recommendations.

Moreover, he said, that there were misconceptions among authorities of medical colleges, polytechnics and institutions imparting education on agriculture that the anti-ragging rules were not applicable to them as they were under separate regulatory bodies.

The amicus curiae also mentioned two separate incidents of ragging in which a student was reportedly forced to consume narcotic substances and another physically-challenged student was subjected to ragging by his seniors.

[IndiaNews] SC seeks ATR from UGC, MCI and AICTE in ragging case

Link to report

29 October 2007

The Supreme Court has directed University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and Medical Council of India (MCI) to file their action taken report within four weeks, detailing the steps taken by them to check the menace of ragging in educational institutions .

A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and Lokeshwar Singh Panta, also refused to entertain an application seeking relaxtation in the condition of having 75 per cent attendance for contesting students union elections in a university or a college.

The court told the applicant, " you were given admission for studying and not for indulging in politics at behest of major political parties. You don't want to attend classes but want to indulge in politics and such a situation can not be accepted ." Earlier, while issuing guidelines for checking the menace of physical and emotional torture of freshers in the name of ragging , the apex court had made it clear that " we want students and not goondas in university campus."

(UNI)

[Telegraph] Ragging heat on principal

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OUR LEGAL REPORTER

Calcutta, Oct. 24: The high court today dismissed an engineering college principal’s petition to reconsider its order to provide round-the-clock security to a ragging victim.

The principal of Mallabhum Institute of Technology in Bishnupur, Bankura, pleaded that it was near impossible for him to ensure first-year student Soumya Roy’s security through the day and sought respite from the responsibility.

But vacation judge Justice B. Somadder would not have any of that. The administration and the judiciary should be more active in eradicating the evil of ragging, he said.

Soumya, from New Barrackpore, who went to study electronics at the institute, about 230km from Calcutta, had been confined to a hostel room for three days and allegedly forced to take drugs.

Justice Somadder had passed the order on principal Sunil Kumar Roy when the boy’s father sought his transfer to any other engineering institute. But there is no rule allowing a student’s shift from one private college to another.

The judge asked Roy to take special care to ensure that Soumya was not ragged again and added that he would be held responsible in case of a rerun of the torture.

[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.

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

Link to report

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.

[HT] Colleges open amid conviction of three students for ragging

Link to report

Ashok Das, Hindustan Times
Hyderabad, July 05, 2007

It’s that time of the year when professional colleges open after vacation and along with that comes the menace of ragging. While laws have been enacted to make ragging a punishable offence, few get convicted because the authorities as well as the community still take lenient view of the problem.

However, this time before colleges open, a stern message has been sent across to perpetrators of ragging in Andhra Pradesh. A court in Kurnool, the former capital of Andhra Pradesh,have sentenced three students of Kurnool Medical College for ragging their juniors.

Principal junior civil judge V Krishna Murthy on Wednesday sentenced N Srinivas, CP Muralikrishna Reddy and A Sudhir Kumar Reddy, the three senior students to undergo jail-term for a year and pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each.

They had summoned three first year students to their hostel room on August 30 last year and made them to strip, in the name of ragging. Later they took the pictures of the stripped students using their cell phone cameras.

This is the first case of conviction in a ragging case in the state.

SC order based on the Raghavan committee report

Link to order on SC website

Also available on CURE website

ITEM NO.33
COURT NO.4
SECTION XIA


SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No(s).24295/2004

(From the judgement and order dated 24/06/2004 in WP No. 30845/2003 of the
HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM)


UNIVERSITY OF KERALA Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
COUNCIL,PRINCIPALS',COLLEGES,KERALA &ORS Respondent(s)

(With appln(s) for intervention and modification and directions and impleadment as
party respondent and with prayer for interim relief and office report)

WITH SLP(C) NO. 14356 of 2005 (With appln.(s) for exemption from filing O.T. and c/delay in filing counter affidavit and office report)

W.P.(CRL.) NO. 173 of 2006 (With appln.(s) for directions and exemption from filing O.T. and urging addl. ground and with office report)

SLP(C) NO. 24296-24299 of 2004 (With prayer for interim relief and office report)

Date: 16/05/2007 These Petitions were called on for hearing today.


CORAM :
HON'BLE Dr. JUSTICE ARIJIT PASAYAT
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.H. KAPADIA

Mr. Gopal Subramaniam, A.S.G. (A.C.)
Mrs. Sushma Suri, Adv.
Mr. Abhishek Tewari, Adv.
For Petitioner(s) Mr. R. Sathish,Adv.
Dr. Sushil Balwada, Adv.
Mr. Satbir Tillania, Adv.
Mr. Anil Karnwal, Adv.
Mr. Prashant Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Pooja Dhar, Adv.
Ms. Ratna Kaul, Adv.
for M/s AP & J Chambers, Advs.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr.Adv.
Mr. E.M.S. Anam,Adv.
Mr. Fazlin Anam, Adv.
Mr. P.V. Dinesh, Adv.
Mrs. Sindhu T.P.,Adv.
Mr. P.V. Vinod, Adv.
Mr. Sandeep B.K., Adv
Mr. KH. Nobin Singh, Adv.
Mr. David Rao, Adv.
Mr. S. Biswajit Meitei, Adv.
Mr. Manoj Swarup, Adv.
Ms. Lalit Kohli, Adv.
for M/s. Manoj Swarup & Co., Advs.
Mr. T.V. George, Adv.
Mr. M.P. Vinod, Adv.
Mr. Ajay K. Jain, Adv.
Mr. Sjith P., Adv.
Mr. K.R. Sasiprabhu, Adv.
Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha,Adv.
Mr. M.K. Michael, Adv.
Mr. M.K.D. Namboodiri, Adv.
Mr. V.G. Pragasam, Adv.
Mr. Shivaji M. Jadhav, Adv.
Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, Adv.
For Res.1-3 & 5 in WP 173/06: Mr. Soli J. Sorabjee, Sr.Adv.
Ms. Vibha Datta Makhija
Mr. Manish Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Ansar Ahmad Chaudhary, Adv.

UPON hearing counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

We have perused the Report of the Committee constituted pursuant to this Court's order to suggest remedial measures to tackle with the problem of ragging in educational institutions. An elaborate report has been submitted by the Committee headed by Dr.R.K. Raghavan.

According to the Committee, the following factors need to be focused to tackle with the problem:

• (a) Primary responsibility for curbing ragging rests with academic institutions themselves.
  
  
• (b) Ragging adversely impacts the standards of higher education.
  
  
• (c) Incentives should be available to institutions for curbing the menace and there should be disincentives for failure to do so.
  
  
• (d) Enrolment in academic pursuits or a campus life should not immunize any adult citizenfrom penal provisions of the laws of the land.
  
  
• (e) Ragging needs to be perceived as failure to inculcate human values from the schooling stage.
  
  
• (f) Behavioural patterns among students, particularly potential 'raggers', need to be identified.
  
  
• (g) Measures against ragging must deter its recurrence.
  
  
• (h) Concerted action is required at the level of the school, higher educational institution, district administration, university, State and Central Governments to make any curb effective.
  
  
• (i) Media and the Civil Society should be involved in this exercise.

The Committee has made several recommendations. For the present, we feel that the following recommendations should be implemented without any further lapse of time.

1. The punishment to be meted out has to be exemplary and justifiably harsh to act as a deterrent against recurrence of such incidents.
   
   
2. Every single incident of ragging where the victim or his parent/guardian or the Head of institution is not satisfied with the institutional arrangement for action, a First Information Report must be filed without exception by the institutional authorities with the local police authorities. Any failure on the part of the institutional authority or negligence or deliberate delay in lodging the FIR with the local police shall be construed to be an act of culpable negligence on the part of the institutional authority. If any victim or his parent/guardian of ragging intends to file FIR directly with the police, that will not absolve the institutional authority from the requirement of filing the FIR.
   
   
3. Courts should make an effort to ensure that cases involving ragging are taken up on a priority basis to send the correct message that ragging is not only to be discourages but also to be dealt with sternness.
   
   
4. In addition, we direct that the possibility of introducing in the educational curriculum a subject relating to ragging shall be explored by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the respective State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). This aspect can be included in the teaching of the subjects "Human Rights".
   
   
5. In the prospectus to be issued for admission by educational institutions, it shall be clearly stipulated that in case the applicant for admission is found to have indulged in ragging in the past or if it is noticed later that he has indulged in ragging, admission may be refused or he shall be expelled from the educational institution.
   
   
6. The Central Government and the State Governments shall launch a programme giving wide publicity to the menace of ragging and the consequences which follow in case any student is detected to have been involved in ragging.
   
   
7. It shall be the collective responsibility of the authorities and functionaries of the concerned institution and their role shall also be open to scrutiny for the purpose of finding out whether they have taken effective steps for preventing ragging and in case of their failure, action can be taken; for example, denial of any grant-in-aid or assistance from the State Governments.
   
   
8. Anti-ragging committees and squads shall be forthwith formed by the institutions and it shall be the job of the committee or the squad, as the case may be, to see that the Committee's recommendations, more particularly those noted above, are observed without exception and if it is noticed that there is any deviation, the same shall be forthwith brought to the notice of this Court.
   
   
9. The Committee constituted pursuant to the order of this Court shall continue to monitor the functioning of the anti-ragging committees and the squads to be formed. They shall also monitor the implementation of the recommendations to which reference has been made above.
   

Post these matters in September, 2007 for further directions on the recommendations received from the Committee.

I.A.No.5/2007 in S.L.P.(C) No.24295/2004:
Issue notice.

Response, if any, by the University shall be filed within four weeks. Rejoinder, if any, within four weeks thereafter.

Mr. Gopal Subramaniam, learned amicus curiae shall also indicate his views.

Writ Petition (Crl.) No.173/2006:
List this petition separately in September, 2007.

(N. Annapurna) (Madhu Saxena)
Court Master Court Master