Feb 23, 2025 12:25 IST
First published on: Feb 23, 2025 at 12:20 IST
-
Share
It has been often argued that ragging helps freshers assimilate into campus life at Higher Education Institutes (HEI). Healthy interactions with seniors, undoubtedly, help juniors learn the campus traditions and cultural practices that lead to the formation of a cohesive and supportive community. But it shouldn’t come at the cost of mental or physical health.
The interactions must remain disciplined, dignified, and free from intimidation. However, “ragging” is everything that such exchanges should not turn out to be: Harassment, humiliation, and violence that cause lasting trauma to the victims, defeating the objective of creating a friendly, culturally vibrant, and socially inclusive environment.
Story continues below this ad
Several cases of ragging with deadly criminal intent have repeatedly shaken the nation’s conscience. Kerala has recently witnessed a string of ragging incidents, including cases in Kottayam Nursing College and Kariavattom College at Thiruvananthapuram. These incidents highlight the prevalence of ragging in HEIs, often under the guise of tradition and initiation rituals.
It was not long ago that the death of a Jadavpur University student led the Supreme Court to issue anti-ragging guidelines in the landmark Vishwa Jagriti Mission (2001) case. Later, the tragic death of Aman Kachroo prompted the SC to form the Raghavan Committee, whose recommendations were incorporated into the UGC’s 2009 anti-ragging regulations.
Despite this legal framework, ragging-related violence continues unabated. Between 2012 and 2023, reports indicate that 78 students lost their lives due to ragging, while thousands suffered inhumane torture. The tragic death of Faizan Ahmed, an Olympiad champion and third-year student at IIT Kharagpur in 2022, underscores the failure of complaint-based prevention measures. Initially presumed to be a suicide, Faizan’s case is now being investigated as an alleged murder in a protracted legal battle led by his mother.
Story continues below this ad
The recurrence of such tragedies suggests that regulations alone are not enough. The effectiveness of existing measures remains questionable, highlighting the urgent need for effective enforcement, proactive monitoring, and a paradigm shift in institutional culture to eradicate ragging from educational spaces.
The HEI’s ragging support system must integrate behavioural assessments to ensure a safe environment for freshers, promoting positive senior-junior interactions without fear. It requires a cultural shift toward respect, inclusivity, and mentorship while identifying criminal behaviours.
Monitoring and profiling behavioural patterns can help ensure timely intervention. Advanced analytics, including social media tracking, can offer valuable insights into potential threats. Seniors exhibiting criminal mindsets should receive counselling, warnings, or strict action to prevent ragging.
Structured mentoring fosters healthy senior-junior interactions, promoting inclusion, learning, and socialisation. Counselling reshapes mindsets, emphasising respect, empathy, and peer support. Social media amplifies these efforts through success stories and awareness campaigns, while films like 3 Idiots and Chhichhore highlight ragging’s impact on campus life and future growth. Such initiatives create a welcoming environment where freshers feel empowered, and seniors take pride in guiding them into college’s academic and social life.
Time-bound online complaint disposal system should ensure fairness, transparency, and natural justice while avoiding conflicts of interest. The process should consist of multiple stages with strict deadlines to ensure swift resolution. The first stage should screen for frivolous complaints, while subsequent stages include registration, categorisation, issue identification, information collection, mediation, and resolution. Each stage must have clear responsibilities and deadlines to maintain efficiency. To ensure accountability, the names and designations of officials handling complaints should be publicly accessible. This structured approach will build trust and ensure timely resolution of genuine grievances.
No single solution fits all. What truly matters is integration and collective action to build a compassionate educational system free from torture and bullying.
The writer is a former computer science professor at IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, BITS Pilani, and JNU, and a former scientist at DRDO and DST with over 40 years of experience. He faced ragging and led several anti-ragging squads as a teacher
