By ordering educational institutions to register FIRs against students indulging in ragging, the Supreme Court has taken a proactive step to ensure implementation of an existing ban against ragging in educational institutions. The apex court has not only said that the punishment has to be exemplary and harsh, but has given several directions including an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code to ensure that cases involving ragging are tried on fast track. The Supreme Court’s directions are long overdue steps that will help in eliminating ragging on school and college campuses. Ragging might have once been a fun activity on campuses, an ice-breaker that helped freshers to get to know their seniors. But increasingly it has become a cruel and humiliating experience for many students.
Students have been subjected to mental and physical torture, including sexual abuse all in the name of fun. That there was little fun for the victims is evident from the fact that several youngsters were driven to take their lives. Others suffered in silence or quit the institution to escape humiliation. College authorities have often chosen to sweep complaints of ragging under the carpet as they feared they would tarnish the reputation of their institutions. Or they were reluctant to act against students with political connections or from rich backgrounds. Heads of institutions will now be hauled up and institutions will find aid drying up if they fail to act against ragging. The court has done well to put the onus of acting against ragging squarely on the shoulders of college authorities.
But victims will speak up about their suffering only if they find a supportive environment. They will be reluctant to complain if college authorities pull them up later for drawing public attention to incidents of ragging on the campus. It is here that the apex court’s direction to the Central and state governments to immediately ensure that educational institutions constitute special anti-ragging committees to check the menace and also asking NCERT and SCERTs to consider introducing a chapter on the evils of ragging in the curriculum will go a long way in eradicating the often traumatic experience of ragging for youngsters. The Supreme Court by taking a proactive stand has shown that a ban alone is not enough, implementation of the ban can come about only if students, college authorities, parents, the police and the courts work together to eliminate the evil practice.