[Hindu] The wrong rite of passage

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A form of torture, which can cause severe emotional and physical damage, ragging enjoys the surprising status of a rite of passage. This dubious initiation ritual continues to be practised despite the ban slapped on it in 2001. While six States have enacted anti-ragging laws, there have been very few cases registered under them. The Supreme Court's order, which recognises that mere prohibition is not enough, places severe curbs on ragging by adopting a totally new approach. Preventing or taking action against the practice will now be the collective responsibility of the educational institution and no longer the lonely burden of the victim and his family. Institutions have been directed to file cases with the police whenever ragging incidents come to light; failure or delay on the part of the authorities to do so "would make them liable for culpable negligence." Concerned about maintaining their reputations, educational institutions often prefer to sweep ragging incidents under the carpet. The broad thrust of the court order is to make such institutions and those who manage them fully accountable for any such incidents.

The slew of directions issued by the Supreme Court is based substantially on the recommendations of the committee headed by R.K. Raghavan, former Director of the CBI. Appointed under the mandate of the court, the committee has devised a comprehensive methodology to tackle the ragging menace — one that involves educational institutions, the media, civil society, and government authorities at different levels. At the heart of this approach is the setting up of anti-ragging squads, anti-ragging committees, mentoring cells, and monitoring cells at the levels of institutions, the district, the State and the Centre. As the Raghavan committee has rightly observed, "without the active involvement of the multitude of bodies and authorities, a continuous vigil cannot be maintained." Some of the committee's far-reaching recommendations — to make ragging a specific offence under the Indian Penal Code and to amend the Indian Evidence Act to shift the burden of proof from victim to perpetrator — will require the approval of Parliament. Those who defend ragging as a fun activity that promotes a feeling of togetherness should take note of the alarming statistics about the initiation ritual. According to the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education, of the 61 reported cases of ragging in colleges since 2005, 11 led to the death of the victim, ten provoked suicide attempts, 12 caused mental problems, and five ended with the victim leaving the institution. Such figures roundly disprove the idea that ragging is just a harmless icebreaker between seniors and freshers.

[ToI] VIEW: Only way to protect vulnerable students

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19 May, 2007 l 0027 hrs IST

When fun and games cross the threshold of decency - when friendly persuasion turns to violent force - ragging causes freshers extreme humiliation and suffering, both mental and physical. Traumatised and scarred, some victims of ragging have ended their lives. Others simply walk away to seek alternative course options in other, safer, universities even if it means giving up a hard-earned seat in a prestigious institution. That ragging helps freshers familiarise themselves with their seniors is a specious argument.

Far from making newcomers feel comfortable, ragging simply emboldens seniors to indulge in heightened forms of sadism. The Supreme Court's warning on ragging to senior students and institutions and its recommendation to mete harsh and exemplary punishment to detractors has come not a day too soon. In a climate of fear where both student-victims and heads of institutions hesitate to take action against offenders - anticipating political backlash - the apex court has come forward to rein in this obnoxious practice.

The tradition of ragging could be traced to the army, where relationships are grounded in hierarchy and so seniors must be obeyed, at all cost. An institution of learning, on the other hand, is supposed to be founded on openness. There is no place here for the kind of coercion characteristic of ragging. Worse, ragging by seniors is now only a euphemism for abuse based on caste, race, ethnicity, religion, class and political leanings. Ragging today is an expression of all kinds of prejudice.

The SC's recommendation that the institution of learning - where offensive ragging has taken place - must file an FIR in the event of a complaint, is an important step in recognising the problem and opening a way to resolve it.

Accountability of the perpetrator and the institution to maintain discipline and order can only be possible if reporting and filing of complaints is made mandatory. Expulsion of student offenders and economic sanctions against institutions that refuse to take action - as per the SC's injunctions - should go a long way in curbing the heinous practice of indecent ragging.

[ToI] COUNTER VIEW: Ragging essential part of college life

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19 May, 2007 l 0025 hrs ISTlYamini Lohia

The Supreme Court's new, harsher directives on dealing with ragging may be seen as a welcome move by some, but in reality, the measures are far too draconian. Most measures are aimed at making educational institutions directly responsible for taking action against the accused.

One of them is to make it mandatory for an institution to file an FIR whenever they are informed of an incident of ragging. The justification provided for such a measure is that it would prevent universities and colleges from sweeping particularly awful incidents of ragging under the carpet, in order to protect their reputations. However, this is incredibly dangerous, as the law can be misused.

It is not too difficult to imagine an altercation between a fresher and a senior student over some matter or other. Under the new laws, if the fresher takes offence he can report the senior student for ragging, and the burden of proof would then be on the accused. Personal vendettas could now be played out in court. And false accusation could lead to a permanent loss of reputation.

Far more dangerous, it could destroy the social fabric of institutions. A recent example is the Duke University lacrosse team case in the United States. The three lacrosse team students who were accused of sexual assault and rape were ultimately proved innocent, but the case has ripped the university apart, and created fault lines between male and female students.

Ragging has been a proud tradition in our colleges. It helps students get over the awkwardness of starting a new chapter in their lives, helps them bond, either with their seniors or in shared misery with their classmates.

Students are forced to come out of their comfort zones, to do things that might embarrass them, but that ultimately make them stronger. New students look forward to ritualistic hazing — for them, it is an indispensable part of college life.

It is a shame that the apex court has turned ragging into a dirty word.

[Peninsula] Anti-ragging drive planned in Karnataka universities

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Web posted at: 5/19/2007 1:21:26
Source ::: IANS

Bangalore • Universities in Karnataka are coming up with some innovative solutions to the problem of ragging in the wake of a recent crackdown by the Supreme Court.

Bangalore University, for example, plans to include moral studies in its courses – hoping these lessons will not only deter bullies but also help students keep off smoking and drinking.

The Visveswaraya Technological University (VTU), which administers all 120 engineering colleges in the state, has responded rather more robustly - it has drafted its younger faculty members to travel in college buses in order to protect freshmen and women from bullies.

Their moves follow the apex court’s directive Wednesday for educational institutions across the country to take a slew of stringent anti-ragging measures, including filing police cases against bullies.

Dr K Balaveera Reddy, Vice-Chancellor of VTU said junior faculty members, who are usually only a few years older than their students, would be randomly placed in college buses to stop the seniors from harassing juniors.

The idea is to instill fear among the bullies and make it clear to them that VTU will not tolerate ragging – either on campus or in college buses, he said.

[IE] A father remembers: Ragging destroyed my life

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Indu Anto’s father is now in Kerala, nursing his ailing wife. She never recovered, and the case continues 8 years later

Priyanka Bhosale & Irada P P

Mumbai, May 17: Eight years after his daughter jumped from the terrace of her two-storey college hostel building, C L Anto (54) is a tired man. But never too tired to talk about his daughter, or about ragging, anti-ragging measures and police action against college seniors who may enjoy a little fun at the expense of a fresher’s humiliation.

For, Anto believes strongly that his daughter Indu, then 16, was led to suicide on August 4, 1998, following some vicious ragging sessions. Welcoming Wednesday’s Supreme Court order making First Information reports mandatory in all ragging complaints, Anto says: “The Bombay Ragging Act of 1999, which came into effect after my daughter died, should be implemented with retrospective effect. And institutions should be held solely responsible for all ragging incidents.”

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Talking to Newsline from Chalakkudy, a town in Thrissur, Kerala, Anto says he is in Mumbai whenever the case warrants. A little over five years ago, the Bombay High Court directed the Mumbai Police to reinvestigate after Anto sought a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry. “The magistrate hearing the case in the Girgaum court has been transferred to the Bandra court,” he explains. “Since he has extensively heard the matter, we are waiting for the case to be transferred.”

Currently nursing his sick wife, who he says never really recovered from the shock of Indu’s death, Anto says he gets emotional only whenever he talks about Indu in court. Accused in the case are two girls who were senior to Indu in college, whose names she had penned in her diary as “raggers”. “Apart from them, I had filed cases against the warden, the then college principal, vice-principal and present principal.” He even filed cases against a slew of police officers, accusing them of destroying evidence.

Stressing the need for better monitoring mechanisms on campuses, Anto says that the order against ragging is at least partly a result of his sustained efforts, but the battle is far from over. “I am not a beneficiary of this case,” he stresses. “I am just doing this for other parents and students.”

[ZeeNews] IIT-K launches helpline for freshers to curb ragging

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Kanpur, May 17: In a bid to save new entrants from ragging, the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur has launched a students' helpline.

Assistant registrar Satyamurthi told media that the initiative would arrest the ragging of new comers by their seniors to a large extent. "The helpline team constitutes 11 senior professors of the institute," he said.

Their mobile helpline numbers would be made available to all the new students at the time of admission, he said. "The students can lodge a ragging complaint over the mobile phone and all the team members will immediately rush to the spot," he said.

According to Satyamurthi, the incidents of ragging normally take place at the students' hostels during the night. "The hostel wardens will also stay on high alert and would conduct raids," he said, adding stern action would be taken against any senior student found ragging juniors.

The institute has also recently launched a counselling service in which teachers and senior students are included.

"Any student can approach the counsellors on financial or family problem and all the possible help will be extended to him," he said.

Bureau Report

[Hindu] Crime and punishment

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V. Jayanth

The R.K. Raghavan committee recommends a new section on ragging in the IPC, the burden of proof on the accused, and that education institutions help the victims file FIRs.

Students of Delhi University during a demonstration.

THE SUPREME Court's directive to governments and educational institutions to come down heavily on ragging has set the stage for a fresh debate on how to curb the menace. The Court's directives come in the wake of a detailed report submitted by the R.K. Raghavan committee, which was asked to study the problem and make recommendations to redress the situation. What are the salient features of this committee's report and the focus of its recommendations?

"The committee recommends that rather than subjecting each incident of ragging to a different penal treatment under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, a new section should be added to the IPC, making ragging a punishable offence on the analogy of Section 498A, dealing with cruelty towards women [related to dowry deaths]. We have already explained that ragging is an offence with a multiplicity of ingredients, each of which constitutes an offence punishable under the existing provisions of the Indian Penal Code. We further recommend that the Indian Evidence Act should also be suitably amended on the analogy of Section 113A of that Act, to shift the burden of proof on those accused of ragging.

"We recommend that a comprehensive definition should be included by way of explanation in the proposed new section of ragging in the IPC, and all the punishable ingredients namely, abetment to ragging, public nuisance created during ragging, violation of decency and morals through ragging, injury to body, causing hurt or grievous hurt, wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, use of criminal force, assault as well as sexual offences or even unnatural offences, extortion, criminal trespass, offences against property, criminal intimidation and attempts to commit any or all of the above mentioned offences against the victim should be incorporated thereto, prescribing appropriate punishments in respect of one or a group of offences."

Another significant recommendation relates to speedy trial. The committee wants the Criminal Procedure Code to be amended to ensure that cases involving ragging are tried on a fast-track basis, keeping in mind the academic priorities of students who may be required to depose before the courts or assist the prosecution.

The basis of the committee's work, direction, and recommendations stem from the following perceptions:

Primary responsibility for curbing ragging rests with academic institutions themselves;

Incentives should be available to institutions for curbing the menace; there should also be disincentives for failure to do so;

Enrolment in academic pursuits or a campus life should not immunise any adult citizen from penal provisions of the laws of the land;

Ragging needs to be perceived as a failure to inculcate human values from the schooling stage;

Behavioural patterns among students, particularly potential "raggers," need to be identified; Measures against ragging must deter its recurrence;

Concerted action is required at the level of the school, higher education institution, district administration, university, State and Central governments, to make any curb effective;

Media and civil society should be involved at all stages.

The other members of the committee were: S.G. Dhande, A.K. Agarwal, S. Sathikh, Chandra Krishnamurthy, Rajendra Prasad, and Sunil Kumar, Member-Convener.

In a Special Leave Petition last year, University of Kerala Vs Council of Principals of Colleges, the Supreme Court directed that a committee headed by the former CBI Director, R.K. Raghavan, be set up to suggest means to prevent ragging in educational institutions. Its terms of reference were to study the various aspects of ragging; suggest means and methods of prevention; suggest possible action that could be taken against persons indulging in the practice; and to suggest possible action that can be taken against college or university authorities in the event of ragging.

Multi-dimensional problem

The committee made it clear the problem has several aspects — psychological, social, political, economic, cultural, and academic. Of late, sexual dimensions have also crept in. It said: "In none of the interactions did we come across any instance of the educational institutions approaching the police authorities in reporting even the extreme cases of ragging. Usually, the complaints with the police are lodged by the parentsof the victims. Most of the parents have reported that the university/college support for following up on the case with the law and order machinery has been lukewarm — indeed, in some cases, the institutions have actively dissuaded persistent parents. The committee is concerned with the evasive attitude of institutions and it is therefore necessary that the institutional authorities are made accountable in a variety of ways." It therefore wanted the educational institutions to assist the victims to lodge an FIR with the police on any incident of ragging.

To illustrate how timely complaints can prove effective, the committee cites the Kerala case in point — of a girl student of the Kottayam Medical College. Her complaint against senior men students resorting to sexual assault while ragging led to their arrests and prosecution as well as action against the college authorities.

The committee notes: "Almost all the stake-holders have failed to act in some way or the other 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."

The committee's recommendations relate to actions to be taken at the level of schools, higher educational institutions, district administration, universities, State and Central authorities. Not only that, it wants civil society and the media to be involved at each level to tackle the problem of ragging.

At the school level, it calls for introduction of human rights education and counselling for students. The School Leaving Certificate should mention the character of the student in terms of behavioural pattern.

In college, there must be an annual undertaking to be signed by students and parents, jointly, stating that they have read the relevant instructions on ragging and punishment, and the ward, if found guilty, will be proceeded against. The committee recommends a carrot and stick policy towards educational institutions in relation to curbing ragging, and this should extend to funding as well as grading.

There should be institutional level, district level, and State-level committees to monitor ragging and curb it. At the national level, the University Grants Commission must coordinate and monitor the anti-ragging movement. The governments and the media should sensitise the people, including students, and create awareness about the problem. A toll-free helpline could be created for easy access to students in distress.