Anti Ragging

Ragging is a punishable offense. Indulging in any form of ragging may lead to imprisonment of rustication. Ragging is prohibited as per the decision of the supreme court of Indian writ petition no. (c) 656/1998. We have maintained strong administration across our campuses including hostels to refrain any student being a victim of ragging. Our anti - disciplinary team is hyper active and makes sure that law and order is maintained without fail when it comes to ragging incidents.

The Ragging is defined as any disorderly conduct, whether by words spoken or written or by an act, has the effect of teasing, treating, or handling with rudeness a fresher or a junior student. Indulging in a rowdy or undisciplined activity that causes or is likely to cause annoyance, hardship, or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in a fresher or junior student. Asking the students to do any act or perform something that such students will not do in the ordinary course and which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so.

Anti Ragging ACT

In view of the increasing incidents of ragging in colleges and elsewhere that reached proportions unbecoming of a civilised society the Hon’ble Supreme court admitted and heard the SLP No (s) 24295 of 2006 University of Kerala Vs Council, Principals’, Colleges, Kerala & Ors (with SLP(C) No.24296-99/2004 & W.P. (Crl) No. 173/2006 and SLP(C) No.14356/2005).

Pursuant to an order of Hon’ble Supreme Court of India dated November 27, 2006, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri R.K. Raghavan (former Director, CBI) to look into the issue of ragging and suggest means of prevention of ragging in educational institutions.

The Committee primarily examined the following broad aspects of ragging:-

• Means and methods of prevention of ragging.
• Possible action that can be taken against persons indulging in ragging.
• Possible action that can be taken against college/university authorities in the event of ragging.

The Committee had carried out a very detailed study with the help of voluntary organizations including CURE (Coalition for Uprooting Ragging from Education) and SPACE (Society for Peoples Action Change and Enforcement) and collected voluminous public opinion on the various factors contributing for ragging. Noted psychologists and educationists assisted the committee. The National Informatics Centre at the Ministry of Human Resources hosted a guest book in their website. Nearly eleven press releases were made during this period of evaluation and committee visited several cities in the country. A subcommittee of the Medical Council of India was also constituted for this purpose. A questionnaire was prepared that elicited over 12500 responses. In short a wide cross-section of the society provided the necessary background information, data and suggestions on tackling ragging in the country for consideration by the esteemed committee.

Subsequently the committee submitted a detailed report with suitable recommendations and measures required to effectively curb the menace. The recommendations of the Committee were duly accepted and the following directives have been issued to all the educational institutions for necessary implementation by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 16 May 2007.

I. The following factors need to be focused to tackle with the problem:

• Primary responsibility for curbing ragging rests with academic institutions themselves.
• Ragging adversely impacts the standards of higher education.
• Incentives should be available to institutions for curbing the menace and there should be disincentives for failure to do so.
• Enrolment in academic pursuits or a campus life should not immunize any adult citizen from penal provisions of the laws of the land.
• Ragging needs to be perceived as 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 educational institution, district administration, university, State and Central Governments to make any curb effective.
• Media and the Civil Society should be involved in this exercise.

II. The Committee has made several recommendations. For the present, the apex court felt 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 (FIR) 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 discouraged but also to be dealt with sternness.

1. In addition, the court directed 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".
2. 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.
3. 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.

• 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.
• 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, 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.
• 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.

We at United University request all students, parents and guardians to go through these directives and co-operate in the implementation of the directives of the Honorable Supreme Court of India. It is hoped that this will signal an end to the menace of ragging. Strict action shall be taken in accordance with the directives in case any student is found to indulge in ragging.

Various Types of Ragging

The Hon’ble Supreme Court has, inter-alia, mentioned the following types of ragging:-
Actions to be taken against students for indulging and abetting in Ragging in technical institutions Universities including Deemed to be University imparting technical education:-

• Ragging has several aspects with, among others, psychological, social, political, economic, cultural, and academic dimensions.
• Any act that prevents, disrupts or disturbs the regular academic activity of a student should be considered within the academics related aspect of ragging; similarly, exploiting the services of a junior student for completing the academic tasks assigned to an individual or a group of seniors is also an aspect of academics related ragging prevalent in many institutions, particularly in the technical institutions.
• Any act of financial extortion or forceful expenditure burden put on a junior student by senior students should be considered an aspect of ragging for ragging economic dimensions.
• Any act of physical abuse including all variants of it: sexual abuse, homosexual assaults, stripping, forcing obscene and lewd acts, gestured, causing bodily harm or any other danger to health or person can be put in the category of ragging with criminal dimensions.
• Any act or abuse by spoken words, emails, snail-mails, blogs, public insults should be considered within the psychological aspects of ragging. This aspect would also include deriving perverted pleasure, vicarious or sadistic thrill from actively or passively participating in the discomfiture to others; the absence of preparing ‘freshers’ in the run up to their admission to higher education and life in hostels also can be ascribed as a psychological aspect of ragging – coping skills in interaction with seniors or strangers can be imparted by parents as well. Any act that affects the mental health and self-confidence of students also can be described in terms of the psychological aspects of ragging.
• The human rights perspective of ragging involves the injury caused to the fundamental right to human dignity through humiliation heaped on junior students by seniors; often resulting in the extreme step of suicide by the victims.
• The punishment to be meted out to the persons indulged in ragging has to be exemplary and justifiably harsh to act as a deterrent against recurrence of such incidents. The students who are found to be indulged in ragging should be debarred from taking admission in any technical institution in India.
• Every single incident of ragging a First Information Report (FIR) must be filed without exception by the institutional authorities with the local police authorities.

Punishment Provisions

• Any student or group of students found guilty of ragging on campus or off campus shall be liable to one or more of the following punishments:
• Debarring from appearing in any sessional test/ university examination or withholding results
• Suspension from attending classes and academic privileges
• Withdrawing scholarships and other benefits
• Suspension from the college for a period of one month
• Cancellation of admission
• Debarring from representing the institution in any national or international meet, tournament, youth festival, etc.
• Suspension/expulsion from the hostel
• Rustication from the institution for periods varying from 1 to 4 semesters or equivalent period
• Expulsion from the institution and consequent debarring from admission to any other institution
• Fine up to twenty five thousand rupees
• Imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both
• Collective punishment - When the students committing or abetting the crime of ragging are not identified, the institution shall resort to collective punishment as a deterrent to ensure community pressure on the potential raggers. Any institution that fails to take adequate steps to prevent ragging or fails to act in accordance with the Regulations or fails to punish perpetrators or incidents of ragging suitably is liable to the penalties and punishments as per the provisions of the Regulations.