Curbing The Menance Of Anti Ragging In Educational Institution
Author: LawSphereX
Category: Banking & Finance
Published:
Updated:
CURBING THE MENANCE OF ANTI RAGGING IN
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
Priyanshi Soni, BBA LLB, Karnavati University
ABSTRACT
Over the period of years, with increase in the number of cases of ragging, bullying and torturing, new or fresher students are harassed continuously and depriving them of their mental health. To regulate this, the Indian Government has frame various legal frameworks and also set up UGC guidelines on Curbing the Menace of Ragging 2009. This paper highlights about what actually constitute ragging and various definitions pertaining to the same and recent incidents and factual data of recent years over the crime and analysing the effectiveness of the same. The paper also presents various initiatives taken by the Government both at centre and state level. The paper also highlights about the regulations provided by University Grant Commission (UGC) on curbing the menace of ragging in educational institutions.
Overall, ragging is a criminal offence and a serious issue that need to be taken care of and reasonable steps must be provided and more importance should be given to the topic. Keywords: Anti Ragging, Government Initiatives, freshers, harassment Educational Institutions, Seniors.
INTRODUCTION
Education is a quality that needs to be built in an individual. Education first comes from home and then from educational institution or schools. In a country like India where illiteracy is high and poor and getting poor which no hand over the education, the importance of literacy become very crucial. It is pity obvious that education system and institutions are facing a lot of problem. One such is Ragging which is nowadays a fashion which is so deeply rooted in the students and it is great phenomena. New students or fresher that come up to get education and knowledge are harassed by their seniors, be it withing the premises of institution or outside or in hostel. But as usually, EDUCATION, a grave important topic is being overlooked in India as students are a part of it.
In India, ragging is one of those evil when affects the life of the ragged student, mentally as well as emotionally and physically. It is one of the most serious issues which not only affects the mental health of a student, but also led to more rise in suicidal rates and deaths. Such students are harassed to such a deep level where they are forced to commit suicide. One such incident was of Odissa girl, where she died by suicide because of harassment, tortured and ragging by the 3 senior students1. Another such horrific incident was of ragging of 7 student of PG by their senior who are subjected to continuously harassed, mental tortured and bullying2. Is this the kind of education the society is giving to the student? Is it what our education system is? Do we need more stricter legal framework or do we need to keep quiet?
Is this situation going to increase day by day or some measure should be taken regarding the same? All these questions are of curial importance that needs to be answered by the Judiciary and should find our some more measure to curb the offence of ragging in India. Our chapter of legal framework should change, followed up by more attention towards the education system. 1 Debabrata MohantyDebabrata Mohanty (2022) Odisha girl student dies by suicide in hostel alleging ragging by seniors, Hindustan Times. Available at: https://www. hindustantimes. com/india-news/odisha-girl-student-dies-bysuicide-in-hostel-alleging-ragging-by-seniors-101656827626506. html (Accessed: 29 October 2024). 2 TNN / Updated: Dec 30, 2022 (no date) BJ Medical College ragging: Panel finds three students guilty, suspends them: Ahmedabad News - Times of India, The Times of India. Available at: https://timesofindia.
indiatimes. com/city/ahmedabad/bj-medical-college-ragging-panel-finds-three-studentsguilty-suspends-them/articleshow/96609044. cms (Accessed: 30 October 2024).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Sr. No Nature of the Literature Name of the Literature Covered/Review Research Gap Intended Research
1 Research
Paper Ragging: Awareness and perception among undergraduate medical students: A cross-sectional study3 The author has done a crosssectional study and collected the survey and forms from the students and done anlysis accordingly. The paper is totally based on quantitative study The author should include a broader perspective of ragging and should have include more primary study upon the topic Despite the quantitative study, the researcher should also include a theory perspective as for the knowledge about various legal initiatives and frameworks present
2 Research
Paper Combating Ragging: Unveiling its Menace and Legal Implications in India4 The author has highlight about forms of ragging and how it affects the victim family and UGC guidelines to curb about ragging in educational institution The author has not covered about the effectiveness of ragging The author should include various incidents and cases regarding ragging and the report provided by UGC
3 Research
Paper
AN
ANALYSIS
OF SOCIO- LEGAL ASPECTS OF RAGGING IN INDIA5 The author highlights about the concept of ragging and UGC guidelines regarding the same and how ragging can be caused, its various forms. It also talks about the legal Mechanism to control ragging in India The author fails to highlight about the recent incidents and the factual data regarding the menace of ragging The author should include a broader perspective about different committees report such as Rohini commission
4 Research
Paper a Critical Evaluation of Ragging and Anti ragging Laws in India6 The research paper highlights about the definition of the ragging and the relevant factual data regarding the crime rates of ragging in different states The author fails to provide the framework for the regulation of UGC on ragging and what are the initiatives taken by the government to reduce the menace of ragging The author should include various incidents and cases regarding ragging and the report provided by UGC guidelines provided by UGC
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
Objective
of the Research The objectives for the research are:
1. To examine the consequences of ragging and recent incidents related to ragging
2. To find out the initiatives taken by the Government to curb the menace of ragging
Research Methodology
1. The Present Study is based on the Secondary Data which has been collected from
different related websites, Legal Databases, Law reviews, Journals and Newspapers.
2. This Doctrinal study has been conducted with reference to the provisions in various
legislative initiatives by the Government for the menace of ragging.
3. The study is based upon secondary information from previous relevant cases.
Scope
and Limitation The study is restricted to analysing the menace of ragging in educational institutions and recent incidents pertaining to same. It does not cover broader aspect of as to how effective the ragging regulations provided by UGC are effective by providing primary data and surveys in different educational institutions.
CONTENT AND
ANALYSIS
Concept of Ragging Ragging is a form of practice where the juniors or the new entrants in the educational institutions are generally harassed or sexually assaulted which may have a great impact on the victim life either emotionally or physically and may brutally harassed their mental and physical health as well8. It is a physical or emotional way which include teasing or treating the person with rudeness and annoying the person or causing them grievous hurt with the intent to insult them in the group. Ragging in hostels, universities, schools and colleges is a common practice which is done in order to demoralize the juniors or defame them through means of physical or verbal abuse or harassment. In the year 1999, the Supreme Court of Indian defined ragging in the case of Vishwa Jagriti v. Central Government 9.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) Prevention of Menace Institutions Regulations (2009) defined ragging as any 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 rear or apprehension thereof in a fresher or a junior student or asking the students to do any act or perform something which such student will not 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”.
Other organisations/bodies working in this field have also attempted to define ragging, the variety of definitions being reflective of differences in perspective and interpretation. In 2007, the Committee of Consultants to Raghavan Committee considered ragging “Neither a means of familiarization nor an introduction with freshers, but a form of psychopathic behaviour and a reflection of deviant personalities.
Further, ragging reproduces the entrenched power configurations prevalent in civil society” According to the NGO, Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), “ragging is an act of aggression committed by an individual or a group of individuals over another individual or a group of individuals where the former, by virtue of their being senior to the latter, somehow gets the authority and audacity to commit the act and the latter, by virtue of their being new to the institution, are automatic victims” 8 What is ragging? (2022) Nyaaya. Available at: https://nyaaya. org/legal-explainer/what-is-ragging/ (Accessed:
03 November 2024).
(No date) Regulation on curbing the menace of ragging in higher ... Available at: https://www.ugc.gov.in/oldpdf/ragging/minuterag230409.pdf (Accessed: 03 November 2024).
These all definitions are given by different committees regarding the practice of ragging which is done by the seniors towards their juniors. Under the UGC’s regulation the following acts has been specified as ingredients for ragging:
1. Abetment to ragging
2. Criminal conspiracy to rag
3. Wrongful restrain
4. Wrongful confinement
5. Unlawful assembly
6. Use of criminal force
7. Extortion
8. Use of hurt
Forms of Ragging The following are the types of ragging that has been noticed in various educational institutions:
1 Verbal Ragging
This type of ragging indulges in verbal form where juniors are being forced to do or perform some particular tasks that has been given by the seniors in front of the whole institution like doing their assignment or indulging in any illegal activities.
2 Physical Ragging
This type includes giving certain particular punishments and task such as doing sit ups or push ups and making the juniors stand for hours and hours.
3 Dress Code Ragging
This type includes dressing the juniors with particular dress court in order to have undue attention from the rest of the class. For instance, making them dressed in white and black shirt with oiled hair and tie.
4 Sexual Ragging
This type indulges the juniors in some or other sexual activities like being naked, showing them some pornography videos and doing some sexual activities or making them masturbate and many other sexual activities.
5 Drug Abuse
This is the illegal form of abuse where the juniors are forced to sell and intake drugs which may create a path for them to have addictions pertaining to same. Recent Incidents of Ragging The most significant case of ragging in India was the ragging of 19 years old male, Navarasu in 1999 in Tamil Nadu, where the dismembered body of the child was found. In 2009, another victim was found dead when he was ragged by 4 seniors in Himachal Pradesh. Another horrific incident was of the 15 years old child when he was ragged by 17 seniors in the school and was hospitalized on the same day. In 2003, in the institute of IIT Delhi, hundreds of freshers were striped, naked and ragged in the hostel itself. In 2014, Akash Agarwal body was found on the railway tracks in Kolkata. Another student named SP Manoj was found to be hanged after the incident of ragging, a report by his parents.
10 Many such horrific incident have been reported over the period of time in India and according to the data of CURE and reports from research teams, a total of 717 cases11 of ragging were reported in the English print media nationwide between January 2007 and September 2013. From the year 2013 to year 2017, a total of 3022 cases have come across that were registered against the ragging incident. In the year 2021-2022, according to the report shared by UGC, it has received around 582 complaints on the helpline, out of which 401 complaints had been resolved and 181 were pending. The UGC claimed that it has received higher number of complaints in the year 2021-
2022 as compared to the previous year. The number being 858, out of which 797 complaints
has been resolved, while 61 are still pending12. 13According to UGC latest report found in May 2024, it has found around 1240 ragging cases reported between Jan 1 2023 to April 28, 2024. Nearly, 45% increase in the ragging case has 10 UGC. Available at: https://www. ugc. gov. in/oldpdf/ragging/ragging. pdf (Accessed: 02 November 2024). 11 Sonu Halder (no date) Abjournals. Available at: https://abjournals. org/ajsshr/wpcontent/uploads/sites/9/journal/published_paper/volume-2/issue-2/AJSSHR_1aGrFfQd. pdf (Accessed: 03 November 2024). 12 M, S. (2024) UGC data reveals rise in ragging cases across India in 2022–23, Free Press Journal. Available at: https://www. freepressjournal. in/education/ugc-data-reveals-rise-in-ragging-cases-across-india-in-202223 (Accessed: 03 November 2024). 13 M, S.
(2024a) FPJ exclusive: 45% rise in ragging cases in 2023–24, UGC Pledges Safe Learning Environment, Free Press Journal. Available at: https://www. freepressjournal. in/education/fpj-exclusive-45-rise-in-raggingcases-in-202324-ugc-pledges-safe-learningenvironment#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20UGC%E2%80%99s%20latest%20data%20provided%20by, been examined as compared to the previous year. Initiative by the Government Towards the Menace of Ragging Due to sharp increase in the crime rate of ragging has increased over a period of time, ragging has caused the attention of legislation, with regulations at centre level and various state laws regarding the menace of ragging and various section in Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Some of the efforts initiated are mentioned below: Legislation Regarding Ragging In some of the Sections of Indian Penal Code, various elements of ragging are present in order to protect the victim and to punish the accused. For instance, in Section 339 for wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement (340), Section 294 for obscene acts and songs, Section 323-
326 for voluntarily causing hurt. In addition, The Protection of Human Rights Act, 199314
provides different mechanism and various Human Rights Commission to protect the Human right regarding the incident of ragging. Besides this, the Right to Information Act, 2005 in another initiative taken by the Government to bring the Government into action to protect the ragged victim and accountable for the well being of the society. Despite these legislations provided by the government, various states have their own state laws at state level for ragging. States such as Tamil Nadu, Goa, West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Kerela and Chhattisgarh. These states have their own legislation followed by what constitutes ragging and punishment and fine for the same. Most of the States have the punishment for a term of 2 years and fine but still there is great inequality among the states also. Some have punishment for 6 month, some have 1 year or some also have till 5 years.
This shows that the punishment for ragging is different according to different state legislation and thus there is a need for a common legislation to reduce the disparity. Committees Prof K. P. S. Unny Committee Report (1999): The UGC constituted 4 member committee after under the chairperson of the professor K. P. S.
14 Act 10 of 1994
Unny. In its recommendation, the committee put forward a “Prohibition, Prevention and Punishment proposal (PPP Proposal)”15 which means prohibition by Law, Prevention by regulations and punishment to the one in case of ragging takes place. It also suggested for the need to laws that need to be framed at both centre and state level and punishment of fine Rs. 25,000 and rigorous punishment of 3 years or more. It also recommended that certain actions of guards and wardens need to be strict towards the hostel students in order to curb ragging and the institutions that failed to meet the requirement should be disaffiliated. Dr. Raghavan Committee: In 2006, through the Supreme Court guidelines, it creates under committee named Raghavan committee under Dr.
R K Raghavan, Director CBI, to suggest the possible action to control ragging rate and initiatives that need to be taken by different universities and institutions to curb the offence of ragging. The focus of the committee was on preventive measure rather than prohibition measures. The main focus was also for stricter punishment and setting up for a free toll number to help the victims and setting up anti ragging cells at centre, state and institute level16. JUDICIARY STEPS OR GUIDELINES With the increased cases of ragging and much detioration of the mental health of the students in educational institutions, the courts also could not keep silent and pose a protection for the victim through its judgements. The court in the case of Vishwa Jagriti Mission v.
Central Government17, has given a more comprehensive definition of ragging – “ragging in as 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 student, indulging in rowdy or in disciplined activities which cause or are likely to cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in 15 (No date a) 11. PDF. Available at: https://www. ugc. gov. in/oldpdf/ragging/11. pdf (Accessed: 03 November 2024).
16 (No date a) GPROHRU. Available at: https://gprohru.edu.in/media/mix/la9hdcypj8_AICTEApprovals.pdf
(Accessed: 05 November 2024).
17 AIR 2001 SC 2814.
a fresher or a junior student and which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so as to adversely affect the psyche of a fresher or a junior student”. The court in another case of University of Kerala v. Councils, Principal’s college in Kerala and ors,18 where the judgement highlights about that ragging is a core and perfect example that affects the Human Right of an individual and it can be in various forms, be it physical or emotional. The court beside this also laid down a brief guideline for ragging.
CONCLUSION
Imparting education and increasing the literacy rate is one of the most crucial step to combat and reduce the offence of ragging. Educating through various programs in the educational institutions should be one of the most crucial steps towards the offence. Ragging causes a deterioration in the mental health of the student which led to increase in suicidal rates among the teens. As a responsible person, we should prioritize the well being of the student and say ‘NO TO RAGGING, HARASSMENT AND BULLYING’.
The answer to the above question needs to be answers by the Judiciary. The main research question and the main objective of the research was to analyses the effectiveness of ragging and it impacts the mental health of the student. From various legal databases and research papers, it is well evident that ragging is considered to be a fashion among the students and a tool for coolness. More strengthen regulations and punishments need to be taken so as to create a fear in the mind of the accused. According to UGC latest report found in May 2024, it has found around 1240 ragging cases reported between Jan 1 2023 to April 28, 202419. The increasing crime rate is because of the lack of interest by the faculty members, no proper responsibility of the warden towards the students in the hostel, lack of awareness and lack of framework.
The Judiciary should look into the matter to eradicate ragging.
18 (2009) 7 SCC 726
19 Bajeli-Datt, K. (no date) Nearly 90% of over 1,000 ragging cases settled
UGC, The New Indian Express. Available at: https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/May/02/90-of-1240-ragging-cases-resolved-in-1yr-ugc (Accessed: 05 November 2024).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Available at: https://gprohru. edu. in/media/mix/la9hdcypj8_AICTEApprovals. pdf (Accessed: 05 November 2024). UGC. Available at: https://www. ugc. gov. in/oldpdf/ragging/ragging. pdf (Accessed: 02 November 2024). Sonu Halder (no date) Abjournals. Available at: https://abjournals. org/ajsshr/wpcontent/uploads/sites/9/journal/published_paper/volume-2/issue-2/AJSSHR_1aGrFfQd. pdf (Accessed: 03 November 2024). M, S. (2024) UGC data reveals rise in ragging cases across India in 2022–23, Free Press Journal. Available at: https://www. freepressjournal. in/education/ugc-data-reveals-rise-inragging-cases-across-india-in-202223 (Accessed: 03 November 2024). M, S. (2024a) FPJ exclusive: 45% rise in ragging cases in 2023–24, UGC Pledges Safe Learning Environment, Free Press Journal. Available at: https://www. freepressjournal.
in/education/fpj-exclusive-45-rise-in-ragging-cases-in-202324ugc-pledges-safe-learningenvironment#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20UGC%E2%80%99s%20latest%20data%2 0provided%20by, What is ragging? (2022) Nyaaya. Available at: https://nyaaya. org/legal-explainer/what-isragging/ (Accessed: 03 November 2024). (No date) Regulation on curbing the menace of ragging in higher ... Available at: https://www. ugc. gov. in/oldpdf/ragging/minuterag230409. pdf (Accessed: 03 November 2024). Jetir. Available at: https://www. jetir. org/papers/JETIR2102127. pdf (Accessed: 03 November 2024). (No date) Combating ragging: Unveiling its menace and legal ... Available at: https://www. ijsr. net/archive/v12i9/SR23825195422. pdf (Accessed: 02 November 2024).
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