New Delhi: When the Supreme Court declared ragging a “human rights abuse in essence” on February 11, 2009, it was hailed by one and all.
The ruling was based on the recommendations made by the RK Raghavan Committee, which was appointed by the then Ministry of Human Resources Development. The committee submitted its report in 2007, Edex Live reported.
Some of the committee’s recommendations are:
– Awareness to be spread among not just juniors and seniors, but also lecturers and the public in general
– Conducting surprise checks and surveys
– A toll-free helpline for those who are ragged
– Criminal cases could be filed against those who rag
– If the institution authorities are satisfied, the student/s can be suspended after given a chance to make their statements
Going Out Of Hand
Ragging is a real menace wherein senior students bully freshers or first-years. Sometimes, things tend to get out of hand. Like in the Pon Navarasu case in Tamil Nadu. When first-year medical student Pon Navarasu refused to lick the shoes of a senior in the year 1996, the junior was not only murdered, but surgical equipment was used to chop his body into several pieces and disposed of in different parts of the coastal state. Many have committed suicide as well like in 2006, the case of SP Manoj in Hyderabad.