New Delhi: A 20-year-old student was found dead outside the OP Jindal Global University campus in Haryana's Sonepat on September 11. The deceased student's family alleged he was a victim of ragging and bullying. Sanskar Chaturvedi of Vadodara, Gujarat, a second-year BBA (Hons) student at the varsity was found dead under suspicious circumstances.
Sanskar, according to reports, had gone to meet his sister, who is a lecturer in the same university, in Delhi on Saturday after getting an outing pass from the university. He left his sister’s place on Sunday evening and was later found lying unconscious on an under-construction road outside the university.
The campus security staff rushed him to a private hospital where the doctors declared him dead. Sanskar’s father filed a complaint against some students of the university, alleging his son was bullied. While the University has issued a statement claiming it has a "zero-tolerance policy towards any form of ragging with a robust and protective system in place for all students", data shows that nearly 3,000 incidents of ragging have been reported in the country in the last few years. Sanskar's death has yet again sparked the issue of mental trauma among students.
As per the Union Minister of State (MoS) for education, Annapurna Devi’s written reply in Lok Sabha in December 2021, a total of 2790 complaints of ragging had been received from students since 2018, of which action had been taken in 1,296 (accounting less the 50%). The data shared by the Union Minister recorded from 2018 till December 2021 also underlines the fact that a total of 620 suspensions and 17 rustications were recorded.
Also read: Rajasthan: 48 medical students suspended for ragging
1016 complaints were recorded in 2018, and 1070 in 2019, with the numbers dropping to 219 and 485 in 2020 and 2021 respectively due to the coronavirus pandemic forcing students to take classes online. But even then, a lot of cases of cyberbullying and online harassment were recorded.
As per a 23-page report titled “Progress Report of Monitoring the Ragging Prevention Program” by Raj Kachroo, Founder Trustee – Aman Satya Kachroo Trust, the total number of ragging complaints received from June 15 2009 till December 31 2020 stood at 7059. The highest number of complaints came from Uttar Pradesh (1202) followed by West Bengal (808), Madhya Pradesh (758), Odisha (542) and Bihar (377).
Laws against ragging
In 2001, the Supreme Court banned ragging across India. But, despite this, a bunch of cases continue to come up. The death of Aman Kachru, a student of a medical college in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh due to ragging in 2009 prompted the top court to direct all the educational institutions in the country to strictly follow the anti-ragging law.
Under the anti-ragging law, if a student is found guilty, he/she can be imprisoned for 3 years along with a fine. According to the University Grants Commission regulations on curbing the menace of ragging in higher educational institutions, released in 2009 and amended last in the year 2016, ragging may include any act of physical or mental abuse (including bullying and exclusion), targeting students on the basis of sex, color, race, caste, sexual orientation, nationality, and place of origin.
Also read: Students beaten up by seniors in the name of ragging at Jharkhand hostel
According to the anti-ragging cell of the University Grants Commission (UGC), in the 10-year period from January 1, 2013 to April 30, 2022, 832 complaints of ragging were recorded in Uttar Pradesh (UP), followed by 666 in MP.
What do experts think?
Talking to ETV Bharat, Supreme Court advocate Dr Adish Aggarwala said one cannot rule out the fact that ragging was a norm or it was too institutionalised in the system earlier. "But now strict rules and regulations have been laid down. Especially after the 2016 amendment, a lot of emphasis has been given to organise and set-up anti-ragging committees as per UGC norms. Cases do come up but one cannot rule out the fact that this issue has been seeing a sharp decline," he said.
Gaurav Singhal, vice-president of the Society Against Violence in Education, a leading anti-ragging non-profit led by various Indian Institutes of Technology alumni, lawyers, engineers and other professionals, said the issue of ragging at the government or at private higher educational setups is one of the major hurdles in an individual’s growth.
Also read: Olympian Dutee Chand shares her 'ragging experience' at Bhubaneswar Sports Hostel
"Many times, the victim due to fears and social anxiety does not wish to register a complaint. Even if he or she does, only a minimal number of them get justice. As per the established norms and procedures set up by UGC, an anti-ragging portal has been developed. But the cases we see, it is unfortunate that this portal does not care about students. I have a number of cases where students have registered their complaints via this portal but the College administration gets to know about this 48-72 hours later. The agency that overlooks this portal is of no use. I have plenty of evidence. Students also talk about committing suicides but the system plays with them, Singhal said.
As per the documented evidence shared by Singhal with ETV Bharat, there are plenty of cases of sexual harassment, physical beating, mental torture reported in the higher educational set-ups across the country.
One such incident is of a student from a private Ayurveda University in Rajasthan who in his email to the SAVE Foundation wrote that he was being sexually harassed, seniors used to penetrate fingers in his anus and made him moan like a pornstar. Even after registering a complaint, he did not get justice for days but later due to this NGO, the college was forced to take appropriate action and his complaint got registered.
