'Ragging' rears its ugly head

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-27/bhubaneswar/37330158_1_junior-students-hostel-roof-college-authorities-and-students

 BHUBANESWAR: A second year student of BSc agriculture of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) brought allegations of ragging against his seniors on Tuesday.

Junior students gheraoed the office of dean (students' welfare) demanding action against the seniors. The varsity authorities, however, refuted the allegation of ragging and said it was a case of clash between two groups of students. Dean (students' welfare), R K Das said, "A disciplinary committee has started investigating the matter and the report will be submitted to the vice chancellor to take action against the guilty. But preliminary enquiry revealed that it was a clash between seniors and juniors."

 According to sources, first year students stay in Hostel no. 9 and from second year they stay with seniors in the hostels of the respective colleges. On Monday night, some third year students allegedly harassed and grilled second year students in Godaborisha hostel and later they assaulted a student. The victim has sustained serious injuries in his ear.

 The junior students have also lodged a complaint with police but no case has been registered. "The seniors said juniors must experience ragging and started grilling us followed by physical assault, which was intolerable," said a junior student requesting anonymity.

 "Some students came to lodge a complaint of clash but no case was registered as they did not inform the university authorities about it. We asked them to inform the varsity authorities first and if no action is taken, then we will register a case," said IIC of Khandagiri police station Sanjeev Satpathy.

 Recently, the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) ordered the vice chancellor of OUAT to give Rs 2 lakh compensation to the family of Siba Shankar Ash, a student who became bed-ridden after being ragged by seniors in 2006. Ash's father Satyajeet Ash moved the commission after his son could not recover from the multiple injuries sustained after he was allegedly pushed down from the hostel roof by some seniors.

To curb ragging in educational institutions, a state-level anti-ragging committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Governor and Chancellor of Universities M C Bhandare as per the direction of the Supreme Court.

All colleges were asked to circulate telephone numbers of district collectors, SPs and college authorities among students. Anti-ragging committees were also formed in all educational institutions and hostels. "The state-level committee would take strict action against the college authorities and students where incidents of ragging are reported," said a senior officer of higher education department.

Panel to probe reports of ragging at NIT

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/panel-to-probe-reports-of-ragging-at-nit/article4467931.ec

 The reports about ragging that allegedly took place at the girls’ hostel in National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal created a commotion here on Friday.

 It was reported that some junior girls staying at Sarojini Naidu hostel were summoned by the senior girls residing at New Ladies Hostel for ragging. The issue came to light when the security guards of the new ladies hostel spotted the junior girls coming out of the building. According to the rules, junior girls are barred from entering the new hostel and vice-versa.

 However, the junior girls reportedly said they went to the seniors only to get tips on engineering drawing. The officials, who took the matter seriously, said a committee would be constituted for an inquiry into the matter. The parents of the girls in question were also asked to come for the meeting scheduled on Monday.

 Dean (Academic Affairs) Prof N.V. Uma Maheswar said action would be initiated against the girls if they were found to be involved in ragging. Meanwhile, sources on the campus said neither the juniors who undergo ragging nor the seniors who resort to ragging usually reveal their identity for fear of further punishment. “In the preliminary enquiry, no evidence of ragging was found.

We will probe the matter and if any evidence comes up supporting the ragging version, we will take action against those involved,” the Dean said. Kazipet Circle Inspector S.A. Jabbar said that no case had been registered at the police station as no complaint had been filed.

Ragging slur on senior boarders - Varsity asks hostel girls to keep mum

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130220/jsp/northeast/story_16583317.jsp#.UT9aOhz7Cvw

 Guwahati, Feb. 19: Gauhati University today shrugged off its responsibility of conducting a proper inquiry into a complaint of “mental torture” by some boarders of a girls’ hostel, dubbing the complaint as an “internal matter” of the university.

 Sources in the university said 15 boarders of AT 2 Law College Girls’ Hostel on Saturday filed a complaint to the association of the hotel wardens of the university alleging that their seniors had tortured them mentally the previous night. A source said the victims were reprimanded by their seniors for not giving enough time in organising Saraswati puja.

They were asked to keep standing for hours as punishment. The victims had refused to participate in organising the puja as they needed to prepare for their examinations. The university is yet to conduct an inquiry into the incident. When this correspondent contacted the university’s registrar Uttam Chandra Das, he said the issue was an “internal matter” of the university and they had “sorted it out”. “I cannot tell anything on it. It is our internal matter. We have sorted out the issue,” Das said.

 The warden of the hostel, Bina Lahkar, was not present at hostel when the incident took place. “It was a false allegation. The seniors and the junior students had a tussle on that night over maintaining some rules and regulations,” she said.

 The hostel has 60 boarders, including 35 juniors. According to some senior boarders, the hostel has “rules and traditions” like “praying, respecting seniors, organising puja” and “not to wear sleeveless dresses while they go to dining hall and outside the campus”. “It was not ragging. Hostels need to follow some rules. The girls who complained did not follow rules of the hostel.

We all worked for the puja, but they did not. So the puja was not properly arranged. Seniors had to decorate the gates,” said a senior boarder who was named as one of those who had tortured the complainants.

 Another source said the university, which desperately wants to hush up the incident fearing that its revelation would bring it a bad name, has asked the complainants to remain silent and not to speak anything especially to the media. “New boarders in the hostels of Gauhati University face ragging for up to one year. The university simply turns a blind eye and does not take steps to curb it,” the source said.

 Higher education commissioner H.K. Sarma said he was not aware of the incident. “If the incident has taken place then Gauhati University should take appropriate action,” he said. Advocate of Gauhati High Court Santanu Kumar Sarkar said many educational institutions do not take any action on ragging-related incidents considering them as internal matters. “It is not acceptable to take no action in such incidents terming them internal matters.

 It is seen that education institutions do not take action to prevent ragging. But when somebody dies they make a show of it,” he said.

Juniors 'stripped, abused' at Thanjavur engineering college

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-12/chennai/37057879_1_junior-students-college-authorities-police-complaint

 THANJAVUR: Four first year engineering students of PRIST University, Thanjavur have complained to the college and the UGC anti-ragging helpline that they were ragged by a group of seniors on Saturday. College dean H Wilson said the incident was prima facie a case of ragging and the college is in the process of filing a complaint with police.

 The dean told TOI that he has received a complaint of ragging on Monday from four first year students and that an inquiry committee has been constituted. "We will take necessary action," he said. According to anti-ragging rules, the college after receiving a complaint has to register a police complaint within 24 hours and constitute a committee which has to take action within seven days.

 First year students Ansul Raj, Ratandeep Kumar, Praseenjeet and Rajesh said six seniors called them for an "introduction session" at a rented place where the seniors lived. "They stripped us and verbally abused us for more than two hours," said one of the victims, who then made a call to one of his seniors. The senior, who did not want to be named, said he rushed to the spot. "My classmates were ragging the boys," he said. "But when I interfered, they threatened me.

Then I informed other students of my class and around 10 students arrived to settle the matter. They attacked us and forced us out of their house. Somehow, we managed to rescue the juniors," he said. Thanjavur deputy superintendent of police Shankar, however, had another version. The police officer said it was a case of assault and, in fact, the senior who purportedly rescued the juniors has been charged with assaulting the six students. The junior students, meanwhile, alleged that police did not register their complaint and forced them to sign a compromise letter.

Thanjavur superintendent of police T S Anbu said he would order an investigation once the college authorities filed a complaint. Meanwhile, the four junior students have approached the Society Against Violence Against Students (SAVE). Meera Kaura Patel, a Supreme Court lawyer and legal advisor of SAVE, said she spoke to the national anti-ragging cell which confirmed having received a call from the Thanjavur college students. A letter sent by SAVE, a copy of with which is with TOI, has requested the Madras high court chief justice to take suo motu cognizance of the matter.

14 students arrested for ragging in AP

http://zeenews.india.com/news/andhra-pradesh/14-students-arrested-for-ragging-in-ap_827621.html 

Hyderabad: Fourteen diploma students at a polytechnic college in Eluru town of West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh were on Thursday arrested for allegedly ragging their juniors, police said. 

Three second-year diploma students at the college approached Town Police station in Eluru and complained that as many as 14 seniors "ragged" them yesterday by asking them to remove their shirts before tying their hands and legs, they said.

 Following the complaint, a case was booked against 14 senior students under Anti-Ragging Act and they were today arrested and produced before a court.

Ragging victims face bleak future

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-05/thiruvananthapuram/36763550_1_junior-students-senior-students-college-authorities

 KOLLAM: The academic future of 10 engineering students who had gone to study in an engineering college Tamil Nadu now remain uncertain as they have decided to come back unable to endure the ragging by senior students.

 Following complaints from these students, four students, including two Malayalis, studying in the PSNN Engineering College in Tirunelveli district were arrested in connection with a ragging case last month. The victims now say they do not want to go back as they fear their seniors will harass them again. "The ragging started right from the first day of our joining the college.

 Gradually, it worsened and they started torturing us physically," one of the victims complained to the principal. Initially, four first year mechanical engineering students — Muhammad Azar (18), Muneer (19), Althaf(18) and Kamalraj (18) — were subjected to ragging. "College authorities suspended six senior students and imposed a fine on them.

 This infuriated the other senior students and they even blocked our access to food and did not allow us to sleep peacefully," a victim said. Muhammed Azer was assaulted by some senior students on January 19 when he went to the hostel room with his relatives to shift his belongings to an accommodation outside the hostel.

 "The junior students were often compelled to dance naked, forced to take measurement of the room with a match stick and tortured using cigarette butts," Mashoor Koya, Muhammad Azar's father said.

Four engineering students injured during ragging

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wire-news/four-engineering-students-injured-during-ragging_789504.html

Mathura, Dec 1 (PTI) Four students were seriously injured when an altercation broke out between them and their seniors at an engineering college over an alleged ragging incident here in the district, police said. On Thursday night, some senior students of BSA Engineering college here tried to rag their juniors. Following which an altercation broke out which soon turned violent injuring four junior students. The college warden reached the spot on time and the situation was brought under control, college registrar Bhagwan Das said. Six senior students have been expelled from the hostel, he said. The college discipline committee will take appropriate action in the incident, he said. PTI CORR PY RC