Anti Ragging Act has failed to change the ground reality

Anti Ragging Act: Ragging at the harmless is ridiculous and embarrassing, but at its worst, it could have detrimental repercussions on the psychology and instinct of the victim. The act of bullying or intimidating a junior student by his senior counterparts is infamously known as ragging and is prohibited by the law of the land. Recently, while adjudicating the ‘IIT KGP Student Death Case’, the Calcutta High Court opined that ‘ragging can adversely impact intellectual growth, well-being & development of a nation’.

Ragging takes life of 23-year-old IITian

The Calcutta High Court has issued a severe censure to the Director of IIT-Kharagpur over the death of a third-year student in October amid charges of ragging in the college hostel. The instant case arose after a 23-year-old student, from Assam was found in a decomposed state in his hostel room last October. The family alleged incidents of ragging and questioned the role of college administration.

Taking note of the anguish, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the Calcutta High Court in the case of Salim Ahmed and Anr. Vs. State of West Bengal & Ors observed that the menace of ragging can adversely impact the intellectual growth, well-being, and development of society and the nation.

The Hon’ble Justice highlighted that ‘ragging can scar the victim students psychologically for varying periods of time’ and ‘can have devastating effect on the present and future, personal and working, lives of the students’.

Also read: Legal fight for women Colonels in armed forces

Therefore, to curtail the menace, the High Court directed the Director of IIT Kharagpur to take stern, stringent and deterrent measures regarding the unnatural death of a 23-year-old student and to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in future.

Further, the court ordered that the Director of the institute shall be personally responsible to ensure that appropriate counseling sessions, starting at the ground level, are put in place at the IIT. Conversely, the verdict adds to the long list of cases that brought to the fore, the prevalence of ragging in premiere education institutions.

Anti Ragging Act: Prominent Supreme Court’s verdicts on Ragging

The nuisance value of the evil evidently requires legal sanctions to forsake the perils associated with it. Consequently, the UGC (University Grants Commission) has issued numerous guidelines for the prevention of ragging. The Indian government has also enacted the Anti Ragging Act of 1997, which makes ragging a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment and/or fines.

The Anti Ragging Act also holds the institution and its authorities liable for ragging incidents that occur within their premises. However, despite the legal optimism the menace continues to not only claim lives of students but also have catastrophic impacts on their holistic wellbeing.

In addition, the Supreme Court of India has given various orders and directives to universities and colleges to take measures to prevent ragging.

Also read: Did BBC just commit Contempt of Court?

In the case of R. Rajagopal v. State of Tamil Nadu (1995), the Supreme Court opined that the right to privacy of a person who has been punished for ragging cannot be protected at the cost of the right to know of the public at large. The court ordered that the names of students found guilty of ragging be published in the college notice board and in the local newspapers.

Four years later, in the case of University of Kerala v. Council of Principals of Colleges (1999), the Apex Court issued guidelines for the prevention of ragging, including the setting up of anti-ragging committees, the suspension or expulsion of students found guilty of ragging, and the imposition of fines on institutions that fail to take measures to prevent ragging.

Further, in Islamic Academy of Education v. State of Karnataka (2003), the court observed that the punishment for ragging should be stringent and exemplary and that it should extend to expulsion from the educational institution.

More interesting, in P.A. Inamdar v. State of Maharashtra (2005), the Apex Court held that the state government is under an obligation to ensure that the educational institutions under its jurisdiction implement the anti-ragging measures as directed by the UGC and that failure to do so would be a violation of the human rights of students.

Also read: Perils of absolute majority: When Rajiv Gandhi made a mockery of Indian judiciary

Moving ahead S.A.R. Geelani v. Union of India (2006), the Court directed all the educational institutions to file an affidavit with the state government stating that they have implemented the anti-ragging measures as directed by the UGC and are taking necessary steps to prevent ragging.

Further, the court in Union of India v. S.K. Raju (2008) the court held that the state government is under an obligation to take all necessary steps to prevent ragging, including the setting up of anti-ragging committees, and that failure to do so would be a violation of the human rights of students.

Moreover, in the landmark case of Anand Kumar v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2009), the court was of the view that the strict liability of the educational institutions to prevent ragging and to take appropriate action against those found guilty of ragging.

Further, in Anamika & Anr. v. State of Haryana (2016), the Apex Court held that the responsibility of the educational institutions to prevent ragging is not only limited to the students of that particular institution but also extends to the students of other institutions who may come in contact with the students of that institution.

Furthermore, in the case of University of Hyderabad v. K. Ashok Kumar (2016), the Apex Court provided that the educational institutions are under an obligation to take all necessary steps to prevent ragging, and that failure to do so would be a violation of the human rights of students.

Also read: Courts are clear about the fate of Rohingyas, it’s the government that is not

As per the statistics, revealed by UGC’s www.antiragging.in in association with the Aman Satya Kachroo Trust, a total of 511 cases were registered across the country this year compared to 219 registered in 2020. The cases reported in 2019 and 2018 were 1,070 and 1,016 respectively.

The data depicts that the higher education institutions have been concerned about occurrences of ragging for a while now, and while the pandemic kept such cases under control last year, as the colleges were encouraged to go online. But, the year 2021 witnessed twice as many cases as in 2020.

Conversely, the judiciary and the legislature alike have provided ample precautionary measures to curtail the menace of ragging. Moreover, the institutions also provide for various counter-measures to effectively overcome the perils of ragging. In spite, a lot needs to be done as a vast stratum of the student community is at the receiving end owing to the prevalence of the crime.