New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) Most students in the capital doubted the effectiveness of the Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday that those guilty of ragging in educational institutes will be severely punished.
“Rules or no rules, ragging will continue,” said most students as the apex court-appointed Raghavan Committee Wednesday recommended educational institutions across the country to take a slew of stringent anti-ragging measures, including lodging criminal cases against erring students at the police stations.
“I doubt it,” said Sanchari Das, a post-graduate student of Delhi University. “Probably the amount of ragging in hostels which are within the institute’s premises will come down, but not entirely. If not within the institute, students will be ragged outside the campus,” she said with confidence.
Agreed Angana Adhikari, another student of the university. “Everyone has gone through the ordeal of getting ragged. Rules or no rules, I am sure students will devise some way of ragging the freshers, which doesn’t catch the eye of the higher authorities,” she said.
Priyanka Gupta, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, said: “Moreover, being new in the campus, the fresher will be in a state of awe and might not always be ready to take the risk of complaining against his seniors and face them later.”
Yet there are a few who are hopeful that the move will bring some respite for the freshers. “I have been ragged for nearly two years and I sincerely hope that Supreme Court’s move helps do away with this ‘custom’ altogether. It’s a mental torture,” said Abhay Chawla, a third year student of Delhi University.
“If nothing else, at least the institute will also be accountable for the freshers’ miseries now,” he added.
The court said that whenever the victim or his family is not satisfied with the action taken, a police complaint must be lodged by the institution.
The committee in its report said that the conviction rate in ragging cases booked under the Indian Penal Code is extremely low.
The committee also suggested an induction programme for the freshers with the help of senior students and the faculty’s guidance to check incidents of ragging.