The All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi vide its Notification no. 37-3/Legal/AICTE/2009 dated 25-03-2009 has taken a very serious view of ragging incidences in educational institutions and on Directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India vide its Order dated 16.5.2007 has ordered strict implementation of following rules & regulations for Prevention and prohibition of Ragging in technical Institutions.
Various Types of Ragging
The Hon’ble Supreme Court has, inter-alia, mentioned the following types of ragging:-
- 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 with in 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 with in 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 selfconfidence 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.
Actions to be taken against students for indulging and abetting in Ragging in technical institutions Universities including Deemed to be University imparting technical education:-
- 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.
- Depending upon the nature and gravity of the offence as established by the Anti-Ragging Committee of the institution, the possible punishments for those found guilty of ragging at the institution level shall be any one or any combination of the following.
(i) Cancellation of admission
(ii) Suspension from attending classes
(iii) Withholding/withdrawing scholarship/fellowship and other benefits
(iv) Debarring from appearing in any test/examination or other evaluation process
(v) Withholding results
(vi) Debarring from representing the institution in any regional, national or international meet, tournament, youth festival, etc.
(vii) Suspension/expulsion from the hostel
(viii) Rustication from the institution for period ranging from 1 to 4 semesters
(ix) Expulsion from the institution and consequent debarring from admission to any other institution.
(x) Fine of Rupees 25,000/-
(xi) Collective punishment: when the persons 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. - The institutional authority shall intimate the incidents of ragging occurred in their premises along with actions taken to the Council immediately after occurrence of such incident and inform the status of the case from time to time.
- Courts should make an effort to ensure that cases involving ragging are taken up on priority basis to send the correct message that ragging is not only to be discouraged but also to be dealt with sternness.