Ugly scar of ragging can be obliterated: SC

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, on behalf of Ashok Ganguly, J. in case of University of Kerala v. Council, Principals'Colleges, Kerala and Ors., Civil Appeal No. 887 of 2009 issued detailed directions to remove ugly scar of ragging, which can be obliterated from the face of educational institutions.
Posted : Thursday, May 14, 2009 By : MUKESH YADAV
Ugly scar of ragging can be obliterated: SC
Posted : Thursday, May 14, 2009 By : MUKESH YADAV
Keeping in mind the recent incidents of ragging which have surfaced, and which have been dealt with by the Supreme Court, it becomes necessary that the following recommendations made by the Raghavan Committee be implemented immediately, namely:
Every institution should engage or seek the assistance of professional counselors at the time of admissions to counsel ‘freshers’ in order to prepare them for the life ahead, particularly for adjusting to the life in hostels...”.
On the arrival of senior students after the first week or after the second week as the case may be, further orientation programmes must be scheduled as follows:
(i) Joint sensitization programme and counseling of both 'freshers' and senior by a Professional counselor;
(ii) Joint orientation programme of 'freshers' and seniors to be addressed by the principal/Head of the institution, and the anti-ragging committee;
(iii) On a large scale of cultural, sports and other activities to provide a platform for the 'freshers' and seniors to interact in the presence of faculty members;
(iv) In the hostel, the warden should address all students; may request two junior colleagues from the college faculty to assist the warden by becoming resident tutors for a temporary duration; and the UGC and other funding bodies should provide financial grants for meeting the expenditure on resident tutors.
(v) It is strongly recommended that as far as possible faculty members should dine with the hostel residents in their respective hostels to instill a feeling of confidence among the fresh residents.
Every institution must have an Anti-Ragging Committee and an Anti-Ragging Squad. It is essential to have a diverse mix of membership in terms of levels as well as gender in both the Anti-Ragging Squad as well as the Anti-Ragging Committee. The Anti-Ragging Committee at the level of the institution should consist of the representatives of civil and police administration, local media, Non Government Organizations involved in youth activities, representatives of faculty members, representatives of parents, representatives of students belonging to the freshers' category as well as seniors, non - teaching staff and should be headed by the Head of the Institution.
The Anti-Ragging Squad, in contrast, should be a body with vigil, oversight and patrolling functions and should appropriately be a smaller body which should be nominated by the Head of the Institution with such representation as considered necessary to keep it mobile, alert and active at all time. The Squad may be called upon to make surprise raids on hostels and other hotspots and should be empowered to inspect places of potential ragging. The Squad should work under the overall guidance of Anti- Ragging Committee. The Squad should not have any outside representation and should only consist of members belonging to the various sections of the campus community.
At the level of the District, a District level Anti-Ragging Committee, which should consist of the Heads of Higher Education Institutions as members. It should be headed by the District Collector/Deputy Commissioner/District Magistrate and should also have the Superintendent of Police/SSP of the District as member. The Additional District Magistrate should be a member - secretary of the Committee, which should also have representation of the local media and district level Non Government Organizations actively associated in youth development programmes, as well as representations of all student organizations.
The District level Committee should hold preparatory meetings during the summer vacation meetings to take stock of the state of preparedness of each institution and their compliance with the policies and directions or guidelines of the appropriate bodies, the university/State/Central authorities; and the Court's guidelines in regard to curbing the menace of ragging. We have already emphasized on the need for publicity campaigns, summer months may be appropriate to launch such campaigns. Some of the role expectations from the District level Committees have already been mentioned in the preceding paragraphs dealing with activities at the level of Schools as well as higher education institutions and therefore are not being repeated.
At the level of the University, there should be a Monitoring Cell on ragging, which should coordinate with the affiliated colleges and institutions under its domain. The Cell should call for reports from the Heads of institutions in regard to the activities of the Anti-Ragging Committee, Anti -Ragging Squads, Monitoring Cells at the level of the institution, the compliance with instructions on conducting orientation programmes, counseling sessions, the incidents of ragging, the problems faced by wardens or other officials. It should also keep itself abreast of the decisions of the District level Anti-Ragging Committee.
This Monitoring Cell should also review the efforts made by institutions or publicize anti-ragging measures, soliciting of undertaking from parents and students each year to abstain from ragging activities or willingness to be penalized for violations; and should function as the prime mover for initiating action on part of appropriate authorities of the university for amending the Statutes or Ordinances or Bye - laws to facilitate the implementation of anti-ragging measures at the level of the institution.
"At the State level, we recommend that there should be a Monitoring Cell at the level of the Chancellor of the State Universities, who may also coordinate with those of the Central Government institutions located in the State in which the Governor has a defined role under the relevant law. Governors, in their capacity as Chancellors of State Universities, can leverage the influence of their office to ensure that the State Government as well as the university authorities are suitably instructed to be alert in regard to ragging. The involvement of Governors would also ensure that the autonomy of institutions of higher learning is not compromised.
In addition, Governors of States are associated with Central Universities in their role as Chief Rector/Chancellor etc. and can oversee the function of coordination where required vis-a- vis the office of the President of India in his capacity as the Visitor of the Central Universities and also the Central Government in the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The State level Monitoring Cell should receive periodically, and at such frequencies that it may law down, status reports from the University level Monitoring Cells and Districts level Anti - Ragging Committees."
In the light of the increasing number of private commercially managed lodges or hostels outside campuses, such hostels and management must be registered with the local police authorities and permission to start such hostels or register them must necessarily be recommended by the Heads of educational institutions. It should be mandatory for both local police, local administration as well the institutional authorities to ensure vigil on incidents that may come within the definition of ragging.
"Wardens must be accessible at all hours and therefore it is important that they, be available on telephone and other modes of communication - therefore, we recommend that wardens must be issued mobile phones by the institutions and the details of their telephone number must be widely publicized. Similarly, the telephone numbers of the other important functionaries - Heads of institutions, faculty members, members of the anti-ragging committees, district and sub-divisional authorities and state authorities where relevant, should also be widely disseminated for the needy to get in touch or seek help in emergencies. The Committee recommends that brochures or booklet/leaflet distributed to each student at the beginning of each academic session for obtaining undertaking not to indulge or abet ragging, shall contain the blueprint of prevention and methods of redress."
The educational institutions shall ensure that each hostel should have a full-time warden who resides within the hostel, or at the very least, in the close vicinity thereof. State of Himachal Pradesh has submitted that the creation of a separate cadre for warden would not be beneficial for this purpose. But it is desirable that institutions should provide necessary incentives for the post of full-time warden, so as to attract suitable candidates. It has been pointed out that UGC, in its Draft Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging; has also provided accordingly.
At the national level, the UGC should fund, a toll - free Helpline which could be accessed by students in distress owing to ragging related incidents.
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology should facilitate the establishment, infrastructure and operation of the proposed Helpline. Any distress message should be simultaneously relayed to the Head of the Institution, warden or officer of the Hostels, District authorities including the Superintendent of Police, and should be web-linked so as to be in the public domain simultaneously for the media and citizens to access it. A genuine message of distress from the victim of ragging should make it obligatory for the Head of the institution and civil authorities to initiate action on the lines already suggested by us."
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Ragging: Serious human rights abuse
( MUKESH YADAV )
( Monday, April 27, 2009 )
When any student is admitted in a particular institution, he/she faces many problems which are only compounded by seniors who have crossed all barriers for 'ragging'.

Ragging: Serious human rights abuse
Posted : Monday, April 27, 2009 By : MUKESH YADAV
‘Ragging’ has come to be known as ‘teasing’, ‘terror’, ‘harassment’, ‘cruelty’, ‘fear’ and ‘physical and mental torture’, racking, ducking, teasing, etc in modern era.
Serious human rights abuse
‘Seniors’ under the garb of ‘Introduction’ have started ragging freshers and due to which, in recent years, it has become a talk that freshers who have faced severe ragging are leaving the educational institutions. Some have attempted to commit suicide and some have even committed it. The most recent incident of deceased Mr. Aman Kachroo, who died due to injuries at Dr. Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, HP, crossed all the barriers of cruelty.
By perusal of records and survey, it has been noticed that ‘Ragging’ is a systematized form of Human Rights' abuse as embodied under the Constitution of India as well as other Constitutions of the World. Over the years, in all over the world and especially in South Asia, the practice of ‘Ragging’ has come to be meant as an extreme ‘harassment’, ‘terror’ and even ‘physical and mental torture’ of freshers.
Ragging is a set of undisciplined, inhuman activities
Ragging is a set of undisciplined activities undertaken by seniors to break ice with juniors, who have been suddenly thrown into a totally new environment. The contention of seniors behind all such activities is simply to bring the freshers down to earth, because in their opinion the freshers do not respect the seniors and by doing all such inhuman activities under the garb of ‘Introduction’, the seniors rag the freshers so that the freshers may respect them and be under their control. But this act cannot be reasonable and just. The act by the seniors is a ‘fist of steel against ice’ and likewise by doing so, they shatter the ambition, aim and object of freshers and they become aloof in this practical world.
Ragging in essence is a human rights' abuse
Ragging can be in various forms. It can be physical abuse or mental harassment. In present times shocking incidents of ragging have come to the notice. Sometimes violence is used. The student is physically tortured or psychologically terrorized. All human being should be free to claim, as a matter of right in the society in which they live, for life of dignity but when it is intentionally or recklessly damaged or departed then the person's human right is abused; in that sense ragging is the best example of human rights' abuse. Historical background:
Everyman's Encyclopaedia (1938 Edition, Vol. II) and Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1967 Edition) have references about ragging. The synonyms of ragging as racking, ducking, teasing, etc. are mentioned in detail in these reference books. In England the credit/discredit goes to Duke of Exeter to introduce the practice of ragging.
Racking was another form of ragging in which a special instrument called 'rack' was used to torture the victim. Gradually it mixed up with the term of ragging. Egyptian, Romans and Greeks were also not lagging behind. Some form or the other of ragging was found in their societies.
Ragging is not a new phenomenon. It existed even in older times. It was part of civilised societies. In ancient seats of learning, e.g., Berytus and Athens ragging was prevalent. Ragging existed as a tradition in Army Schools of England. Later on this tradition took its root in medical and engineering colleges. In English society ragging took the form of freshers being paraded on street which caused much annoyance not only to freshers but even to general public especially girls.
The form and effect of ragging
Ragging is a form of systematic and sustained physical, mental and sexual abuse of fresh students at the college/university/any other educational institution at the hands of senior students of the same institution and sometimes even by outsiders. Although some form of ragging is present in every educational institution but serious abuses of human rights take place generally in medical and engineering colleges and Armed Forces.
The form and effect of ragging differ from institution to institution. It creates a sense of fear in the minds of first year students and they become apprehensive of unforeseen incidents which, later comes true and culminates in actual form of action. Ragging is ‘display of noisy, disorderly conduct and great high spirits considered by perpetrators (raggers) as excellent fun and by many outsiders as a bloody nuisance’.

Another meaning of ragging is ‘to question vigorously and jocularly, horseplay or assail roughly and noisily’. Yet another definition of ragging refers to popular Spanish game of ‘Bull-Fight’, wherein Bull is shown red 'rag' and a person shouts which infuriates the Bull in fighting.
As noted above ‘Ragging’ means display of noisy, disorderly conduct or doing any act which causes or is likely to cause physical or psychological harm or raise apprehension or fear or shame or embarrassment to a student in any educational institution and includes,
teasing, abusing of, playing practical jokes on, or causing hurt to, such students; or
asking the student to do any act or perform something which such student will not, in the ordinary course, willingly do.
‘Ragging’ means doing an act which causes or is likely to cause insult or annoyance or fear or apprehension or threat or intimidation or outraging of modesty or injury to a student.
‘Ragging’ means causing, inducing, compelling or forcing a student, whether by way of a practical joke or otherwise, to do any act which detracts from human dignity or violates his person or exposes him to ridicule or to forbear from doing any lawful act, by intimidating, wrongfully restraining, wrongfully confining, or injuring him or by using criminal force to him or by holding out to him any threat of such intimidation, wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, injury or the use of criminal force.
The word ‘ragging’ colloquially means to tease or play practical jokes on someone, especially on students who are the fresh entrants in the schools, colleges, Universities or any other educational institutions. In the beginning, it was a way of introduction of the first year students in the institutions which gradually has become not only serious problem but also a social stigma. While in the age of a child in cradle, it was a harmless practice by senior students over their juniors. Regarding the origin or initiative steps of the ragging, it can be traced back to the Seventh or Eighth Century AD.
In 1828-1845, in United States' Colleges and Universities Campus, several student-organizations called 'fraternities' popped up. Freshers to these fraternities were known as pledges. In its rudimentary form, it was called 'hazing' which was merely ritual to test the courage of the pledge.
In ancient Greece, freshers to the sporting communities were subjected to humiliation and teasing to inculcate team spirit. After the passage of time this type of activities were adopted by Armed Forces in which new entrants have to pass out by obeying the seniors in off-duty time. As has been said above, in the age of child in cradle, the ragging was a harmless practice rather permissible in the society but it had taken shape of brutality, humiliation and harassment after the First World War.
New heinous meaning
In fact the technique, style or forms which the soldiers participating in the War had learnt and faced in army atmosphere, were brought by them, when they re-entered in the colleges after returning from the War. Actually these forms were devised to highlight the importance of the team. Gradually these techniques and forms passed on those persons who did not know the real meaning of the technical word 'hazing' or 'ragging'.
Now ragging has acquired a new heinous meaning which indicates any disorderly conduct whether by words spoken or written or by an act which has the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any other student, indulging in rowdy or undisciplined activities which causes or is likely to cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in a fresher or a junior student or asking the student to do any act or perform something which such student will not do in the ordinary course and which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so as to adversely affect the physique or psyche of a fresher or a junior student.
Justification for ragging
Ragging is rationalised and justified as a way of ‘Introduction or getting familiar’ with the freshers at the starting of an academic session of any educational institution. However, in a very positive aspect, ‘Ragging’ could not be considered as an abridgement between the seniors and the freshers, whereas ‘Introduction’ could be considered as genesis of relationship between the two.