
SAY NO TO RAGGING
Abuse of new comers to educational institutions takes the form of ragging. Some senior students subject the unprepared newbies to various sorts of abuse, including sexual, physical, and mental.
(a) Harming any pupil by taunting, abusing, or playing practical jokes on them.
(b) Asking a pupil to do something that, in the normal run of things, they wouldn’t be willing to do.
Typically, the juniors are too terrified to fight back against their planned bunch of tormentors. This practice has now taken a nasty turn. There are several examples of both sexual and severely physical ragging each year. This has a significant negative psychological effect on pupils’ personalities, and such events leave lasting scars.
Ragging includes the following:
Any behaviour that results in harassing, teasing, treating rudely, engaging in rowdy or unruly behaviour that causes or is likely to cause annoyance, hardship, or psychological harm, or that inspires fear or apprehension in a freshman or junior student, whether through spoken or written words or by an act; asking pupils to do something that they would not typically do and that has the potential to make them feel ashamed or embarrassed and negatively impact their physical or mental health as freshmen or juniors.
Punishable Ragging components:
- Support for ragging
- Criminal conspiracy to rag
- Unlawful assembly and rioting while ragging
- Public nuisance created during ragging
- Violation of decency and morals through ragging
- Injury to body, causing hurt or grievous hurt
- Wrongful restraint
- Wrongful confinement
- Use of criminal force
- Assault as well as sexual offences or even unnatural offences
- Extortion
- Criminal trespass
- Offences against property
- Criminal intimidation
- Attempts to-commit, any or all of the above mentioned offences against the victim(s)
- Physical or psychological humiliation
- All other offences following from the definition of “Ragging”
Measures for prohibition of ragging:
The Medical/Dental College/Institution/ University shall strictly observe, the provisions of the Act of the Central Government and the State Governments, If any, or if enacted and/ or for the time being in force, considering ragging as a cognizable offence under the law at par with rape and other atrocities, against women and ill-treatment of persons belonging to the SC/ST and prohibiting ragging in all its forms in all institutions.
Ragging in all its forms shall be totally banned in the entire Medical/Dental College/ institution/University including its departments, constituent units, all its premises (academic, residential ,sports, canteen, etc) whether located within the campus or outside and in all means of transportation of students whether public or private.
The Medical/Dental College/Institution / University shall take strict action against those found guilty of ragging and/ or of abetting ragging.
Every institution shall have an Anti-Ragging Committee and an Anti -Ragging Squad All matters of discipline within teaching institutions must be resolved within the campus except those impinging on law and order or breach of peace or public tranquility, all of which should be dealt with under the penal laws of the land.
The Medical / Dental College/Institution University shall arrange for regular and periodic psychological counseling and orientation for students (for freshers separately, as well as jointly with seniors) by professional counselors during the first three months of the new academic year. This shall be done at the institution and department/ course levels. Parents and teachers shall also be involved in such sessions.
Awardable Punishments
1. At the Medical/Dental College/ Institution level:
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 anyone or any combination of the following:
- Suspension from attending c1asses and academic privileges
- Withholding/withdrawing scholarship/fellowship and other benefits
- Debarring from appearing in any test/ examination or other evaluation processes
- Withholding results
- Debarring from representing the institution in any regional, national or international meet, tournament, youth festival, etc.
- Suspension/ expulsion from the hostel
- Cancellation of admission
- Rustication from the institution for period ranging from 1 to 4 semesters
- Expulsion from the institution and consequent debarring from admission to any other institution for a specific period
- Fine of Rs. 25,000/- or Rs. 1 lakh
- Collective punishment: When the persons committing or abetting the crime of ragging are not identified the institution shall resort to collective punishment
- There are no penal consequences for the heads of institution/ administration of the institution who do not take timely steps in the prevention of ragging and punishing those who rag
- At the MCI level and DCI level also action is initiated against the erring college. Secretary, Medical/Dental Council of India