Ragging News From Indian Colleges

Harsh Agarwal’s on a nationwide tour to root out ragging from campus

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:49:00 +0530

It is that time of the year when freshers will tread their first few steps into the college with fear and apprehension. In a couple of months, a new academic year will begin, and freshers will walk in with the nagging fear of being ragged.

The icebreaker has far reaching consequences, explains Harsh Agarwal, co-founder, Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE).

In his month-long tour in which he covered 12 cities from Nagpur, Nasik, Pune, Surathkal, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata and Lucknow, Agarwal says that there are a number of misconceptions associated with ragging that he hopes to demystify.

“There is no such thing as mild and severe ragging. Bullying is not the way to make friends,” said Agarwal, pointing out that from July 2009 to June 2010, there were about 164 cases of ragging registered across the country, out of which 19 resulted in death/suicide and over 60 students had to be hospitalised. “Most times, cases are not registered, and victims just suffer silently,” he added.

Those who get bullied are sadly, victims of circumstances, and the trauma they go through is unparalleled. “It is a herd mentality. It is all about being in the popular group; there are probably 10-15 hard core raggers, and just to be part of the so-called popular group others join in, not wanting to be left out,” said Agarwal, former consultant to the Supreme Court Committee on Ragging.

While many assume that ragging is a global phenomenon, it is actually quite restricted to our country. “It is for students to understand the issue. Students are actually shy and reserved when it comes to talking about it. The college also has a huge role to play. It is not sufficient to have laws which are not followed and helplines which are rarely used,” said Agarwal.

He suggested that colleges conduct anti-ragging workshops or even an anonymous survey, and find out the prominent places where students are ragged, or what the mentality of the students is. Having a complaint box is of little use, because the victims rarely reveal it,” he felt.

During the one hour session that Agarwal is conducting at various engineering and medical colleges in the city, there will be a screening of a documentary on ragging followed by an interaction with the students through informal activities to make them think on this issue and condemn this practice. However, he says that the response he has received from the colleges in Bangalore is disappointing.

“Before I began the tour, I had written to several colleges and many of them had been keen on the session.Now many are backing out, particularly in Bangalore. Incidentally, my stay in the city is the longest, because of the number of medical and engineering colleges here, and I am finding them very uncooperative,” said a disappointed Agarwal, adding that he was particularly let down by Bangalore Medical College, where he claimed that the principal did not show keen interest and asked him to come back next week.

‘19 died due to ragging last academic year’

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 19:02:00 +0530

New Delhi: At least 19 students including four girls died due to ragging during the previous academic year, data tabulated by an anti-ragging organization revealed on Tuesday. It also claimed that there is a significant jump in the number of ragging incidents during 2009-10 academic year as compared to the previous two years.

The Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), that has also helped the Supreme Court appointed committee to frame guidelines on ragging, said in the last 12 months 19 cases of deaths and 4 cases of attempted suicides allegedly due to ragging were reported. The number of cases reported during the time was 164 as against 88 in 2008-09, and 89 in 2007-08.

The highest incidents were reported from Uttar Pradesh (26), Andhra Pradesh (18), Tamil Nadu (14), Kerela (13) and West Bengal (11). As per the ragging deaths Maharashtra and West Bengal with four deaths each were leading the infamous table, the organization claimed.

On the positive side, in 2009-10 academic session police intervention was noted in 66% of the total ragging cases as compared to 59% the year before, said Harsh Aggarwal, co-founder of CURE. Officially, ragging is banned in India.

On ragging list, TN stands third

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 19:01:00 +0530

July 27: Tamil Nadu has the dubious distinction of ranking third in the number of ragging incidents reported from across the country, a Delhi-based study states.

The study by Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), an anti-ragging advocacy group, says 14 cases of ragging were reported from Tamil Nadu in 2009-10, next to Andhra Pradesh with 18 and Uttar Pradesh, which tops the list with 26 cases. An alarming fact is that the number of ragging cases in the country, totalling 164, apart from 19 deaths allegedly due to the torture inflicted by seniors, have doubled this year, as compared to 88 reported incidents and 12 deaths in 2008-09.

Closer home, a recent case of teasing on college campus gone deadly is that of S. Shoban Babu, 19, a first year student of a private engineering college in Coimbatore from Sivagangai district, who was allegedly thrown out of the fourth floor of the college hostel by a group of seniors at midnight on October 22, last year. The teenager, hailing from a poor family, is bed-ridden for life.

Even as the Supreme Court has passed an order making it compulsory to form anti-ragging committees in each college, educationists are stressing the importance of creating a healthy environment on campus.

Dr Thangaraj, vice chancellor, Anna University of Technology, says colleges should start counselling cell for students. “Colleges should create friendly environment among juniors and seniors. Ragging can be solved if college managements take enough steps to become bridge between the students,” he adds.

According to Madras University vice chancellor Dr G. Thiruvasagam, the university has placed ‘black box’ in all colleges for students to report any case of ragging to the VC directly. “We have had no case of ragging until today, however we have convened a meeting of college principals on August 7 to discuss various issues.”

SC tough stance fails to check ragging

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 18:59:00 +0530

New Delhi, July 28
A year after Aman Kachroo’s death due to ragging, the menace rages on, with the 2009-10 academic session witnessing the highest number of ragging cases and deaths in recent academic history.

In 2008-09, over 88 ragging incidents and 12 deaths were reported across India. The ragging incidents doubled at 164 in the last academic session, which saw 19 deaths, besides posting a marked rise in ragging involving girl victims -- four of them died while two committed suicide.

The ground situation, analysed in the latest report of CURE (Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education), paints a grim picture of preventive strategies, which the government was supposed to evolve to protect students from humiliation at institutions.

Despite the Supreme Court directions last year to come down heavily on raggers, the HRD Ministry sufficed to launch a national anti-ragging helpline after Aman Kachroo’s death. The helpline remains ineffective in tracking cases to the finish. Though the UGC and AICTE issued ambitious guidelines in May last saying erring institutions would be penalised to the extent of de-recognition in extreme cases of violence against students, not one college has even been put on notice for allowing ragging to flourish, let alone blacklisting the said college.

Among the states, UP tops the ragging charts, accounting for 26 of 164 cases; Andhra reported 18, Tamil Nadu 14, Kerela 13 and West Bengal 11 cases. The highest number of ragging deaths was registered in Maharashtra (4), West Bengal (4) and Punjab (3); together, these states make up 57 per cent of all ragging deaths in India.

Deaths apart, 56 cases of ragging led to major injuries, including hospitalization and permanent disability, to students. About 22 per cent cases involved the sexual abuse of entrants while 24 cases led to serious group clashes and violence. In 19 cases, drug abuse, alcoholism and extortion triggered the violence.

The report documents the poignant case of Nayan Adak, a 19-year-old first year student of Calcutta Institute of Pharmaceutical and Allied Health Sciences, whose seniors stripped him naked and slashed his veins when he went to college. Although Nayan survived the assault, he eventually hanged himself on October 8 last upon being forced by parents to rejoin college.

Most ragging incidents (42 per cent) happened in engineering and medical colleges. Hostels and paying guest accommodation remained the breeding ground for such violence, as 56 per cent of ragging incidents happened here.

Menace rages on

2009-10 session witnesses most deaths in recent history.

57 per cent deaths in Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal.

Not a single college de-recognised by the government.

SC tough stance fails to check ragging

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 18:57:00 +0530

New Delhi, July 28

A year after Aman Kachroo’s death due to ragging, the menace rages on, with the 2009-10 academic session witnessing the highest number of ragging cases and deaths in recent academic history.

In 2008-09, over 88 ragging incidents and 12 deaths were reported across India. The ragging incidents doubled at 164 in the last academic session, which saw 19 deaths, besides posting a marked rise in ragging involving girl victims -- four of them died while two committed suicide.

The ground situation, analysed in the latest report of CURE (Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education), paints a grim picture of preventive strategies, which the government was supposed to evolve to protect students from humiliation at institutions.

Despite the Supreme Court directions last year to come down heavily on raggers, the HRD Ministry sufficed to launch a national anti-ragging helpline after Aman Kachroo’s death. The helpline remains ineffective in tracking cases to the finish. Though the UGC and AICTE issued ambitious guidelines in May last saying erring institutions would be penalised to the extent of de-recognition in extreme cases of violence against students, not one college has even been put on notice for allowing ragging to flourish, let alone blacklisting the said college.

Among the states, UP tops the ragging charts, accounting for 26 of 164 cases; Andhra reported 18, Tamil Nadu 14, Kerela 13 and West Bengal 11 cases. The highest number of ragging deaths was registered in Maharashtra (4), West Bengal (4) and Punjab (3); together, these states make up 57 per cent of all ragging deaths in India.

Deaths apart, 56 cases of ragging led to major injuries, including hospitalization and permanent disability, to students. About 22 per cent cases involved the sexual abuse of entrants while 24 cases led to serious group clashes and violence. In 19 cases, drug abuse, alcoholism and extortion triggered the violence.

The report documents the poignant case of Nayan Adak, a 19-year-old first year student of Calcutta Institute of Pharmaceutical and Allied Health Sciences, whose seniors stripped him naked and slashed his veins when he went to college. Although Nayan survived the assault, he eventually hanged himself on October 8 last upon being forced by parents to rejoin college.

Most ragging incidents (42 per cent) happened in engineering and medical colleges. Hostels and paying guest accommodation remained the breeding ground for such violence, as 56 per cent of ragging incidents happened here.

Menace rages on

2009-10 session witnesses most deaths in recent history.

57 per cent deaths in Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal.

Not a single college de-recognised by the government.

Ragging cases double, deaths rise too: Report

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 18:54:00 +0530

PUNE: The academic year 2009-10 registered has highest number of ragging deaths in recent times in the country. Maharashtra is one of the two states that have registered highest number of deaths owing to ragging. An analysis of Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), has claimed. The organisation has come out with its statistics, which points that ragging percentage is high in Engineering and Medical Colleges.

Established in 2001, CURE, Delhi is an anti-ragging non-profit organization. According to CURE's latest analysis of ragging in India, the academic session 2009-10 registered highest number of ragging deaths in recent times. In the last 12 months, 19 cases of deaths and 4 cases of attempted suicides allegedly due to ragging were reported. The year also witnessed a marked increase in the number of ragging incidents involving girls, including 4 cases of deaths and 2 cases of attempted suicides by girl students.

According to the organisation, in the academic session 2009-10 (July, 2009 June, 2010) a total of 164 cases of ragging were reported. This shows that ragging cases reported have doubled this academic year. The maximum number of ragging deaths were recorded in Maharashtra (4), West Bengal (4) and Punjab (3) registered maximum deaths due to ragging. It is alarming to observe that 4 states comprise to 57% of the total ragging deaths across the country. The highest incidents were reported from Uttar Pradesh (26), Andhra Pradesh (18), Tamil Nadu (14), Kerela (13) and West Bengal (11). In comparison to last year, Tamil Nadu is a new entrant to this list, whereas Punjab has exited the list.

There were 56 cases of ragging that led to major and minor injuries to students including several incidents leading to hospitalization and even permanent disability to young students. 22% of the total cases involved sexual abuse of freshers. 24 cases of ragging led to serious group clashes, protests and strikes and violence between students. Element of drug abuse, alcoholism, extortion, caste difference or regionalism was noted in 19 ragging cases.

Like the previous years, this year also, high percentage of cases were reported from Engineering and Medical Colleges with a total of 68 cases (42% the total cases). Hostels and paying guest accommodation for students still remain to be the breeding ground for ragging as 91 cases or 56% of the total cases were reported from these places located in and around the campus area.

"We have been studying the reports in the leading newspapers in the country. Our analysis based on the data collected from these reports," Harsh Agarwal, Co-founder, CURE told TOI.

Agrawal, who was one of the consultants to the Raghavan committee, constituted to carry report on Ragging in the country "With so much fear, mystery and secrecy associated with ragging the only way to analyse the situation of ragging in the country is to track media reports and explore the trends and nature of this evil, " he said, "Finding other sources for data collection was tough, as no specific section such as deaths due to ragging' is present in National Crime Record Bureau."

Other co founder of the organisation Varun Aggarwal stated that more efforts are required to deal with the problem "Our analysis states the obvious: Ragging is still widespread and its social impact is non-trivial. There is a lot of talk, but little work. A simple question to ask is how many educational institutions were fined or de-affiliated for breeding ragging, The unfortunate answer is 0." says Varun Aggarwal, Co-founder, CURE.

When contacted to National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) the officials stated that no specific section for deaths due to ragging is present. "If the student committees suicide then the death is reported under the head of suicides. If the students are minor then they are reported under the deaths of minor and If the student is murdered then it is reported under the section of murder," R B Singh, statistics officer of NCRB, Delhi told TOI, adding, "We don't have a specific section to record death due to ragging."

Despite repetative contacts higher and technical minister of the state Rajesh Tope was not available for comment.

Ragging stays put on campuses

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 8 Aug 2010 18:52:00 +0530

New Delhi: July 27, DHNS:

Ragging has spread its tentacles far and wide in the country, despite a media campaign against the social evil and police action, with the number of cases on campuses in 2009-10 doubling over the previous year, an NGO report shows.

A total of 164 ragging cases and 19 deaths related to the menace were reported across the country during the July 2009-June 2010, a report by the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE) says.

Four suicide attempts were also reported during this period. Two of these cases involved girls, among whom the incidents of ragging have gone up phenomenally. Four girls have also fallen victim to the menace in the last academic year.

These figures are nearly double the 2008-09 count. The number of deaths reported is also more, with seven more cases in 2009-10 as compared to the 2008-09 figure.
Ironically, the increase in ragging cases could be due to wider coverage by the media. However, the increase in the number of deaths is a matter of concern.

Uttar Pradesh reported 26 ragging cases, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 18, Tamil Nadu 14, Kerala 13 and West Bengal 11. Tamil Nadu is a new entrant to this list. Maharashtra registered four deaths, West Bengal four and Punjab three.

In 56 of the 164 cases, students suffered injuries, including permanent disability. Around 22 per cent involved sexual abuse. Twenty-four cases led to serious group clashes and violence among students. Drug abuse, alcoholism, extortion, caste difference or regionalism were noted in 19 cases.

The most shocking case of this year was of Nayan Adak, a 19-year-old student of Calcutta Institute of Pharmaceutical and Allied Health Sciences, who was asked by his seniors to dance, strip and smoke. When he refused, the seniors slashed his wrist with a blade and injected a drug into his body. Nayan was so depressed that he tried to commit suicide, but was rescued.

When his father asked him to rejoin classes, a distraught Nayan preferred death to studies. The incident shows gross societal failure wherein, even after intervention from social security institutions, the victim could not be saved.

Sixty-eight ragging cases or 42 per cent of the total incidents were reported from engineering and medical colleges.

Hostels and paying guest accommodation for students remained the breeding ground for ragging, with 91 cases or 56 per cent of the cases.
On the positive side, 2009-10 year witnessed an increase in the registration of FIR in ragging cases.

Police intervention was noted in 66 per cent of the incidents as against 59 per cent in 2008-09.
DH News Service

Ragging uncontrolled: National Report Card 164 reported cases, 19 deaths and 4 attempted suicides

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:31:00 +0530

Press Release

Ragging uncontrolled: National Report Card

164 reported cases, 19 deaths and 4 attempted suicides

Sub: Annual Status Report on Ragging in India

Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE, Estd in 2001) has once again come out with its statistics to highlight the ragging scenario in higher educational institutions in India. According to CURE’s latest analysis of ragging in India, the academic session 2009-10 registered highest number of ragging deaths in recent times. In the last 12 months, 19 cases of deaths and 4 cases of attempted suicides allegedly due to ragging were reported in English media. The year also witnessed a marked increase in the number of ragging incidents involving girls, including 4 cases of deaths and 2 cases of attempted suicides by girl students.

Year	Reported Ragging Incidents	Ragging Deaths	Attempted suicides
2007-08	89	11	5
2008-09	88	12	5
2009-10	164	19	4

In the academic session 2009-10 (July, 2009 – June, 2010) a total of 164 cases of ragging were reported in English media from across the country. This shows that ragging cases reported have doubled this academic year. Whereas this increase could be due to wider coverage of ragging incidents by the media, the substantial increase in number of deaths is concerning. The figure for number of deaths is less influenced by reporting asymmetry.

The highest incidents were reported from Uttar Pradesh (26), Andhra Pradesh (18), Tamil Nadu (14), Kerela (13) and West Bengal (11). In comparison to last year, Tamil Nadu is a new entrant to this list, whereas Punjab has exited the list. It is important to also study, which states registered the maximum number of ragging deaths. Maharashtra (4), West Bengal (4) and Punjab (3) registered maximum deaths due to ragging. It is alarming to observe that 4 states comprise to 57% of the total ragging deaths across the country.

There were 56 cases of ragging that led to major and minor injuries to students including several incidents leading to hospitalization and even permanent disability to young students. 22% of the total cases involved sexual abuse of freshers. 24 cases of ragging led to serious group clashes, protests and strikes and violence between students. Element of drug abuse, alcoholism, extortion, caste difference or regionalism was noted in 19 ragging cases.

Cases leading to injury	56
Cases comprising of sexual abuse	36
Cases leading to group violence	24
Cases involving drug abuse, casteism/regionalism	19

However the most shocking case this year was that of Nayan Adak, a 19 year-old first year student of Calcutta Institute of Pharmaceutical and Allied Health Sciences in Uluberia. During ragging Nayan was asked by his seniors to dance, strip and smoke. When he refused, the seniors slashed his hands with a blade and injected something into his body. Later Nayan tried to commit suicide at home by drinking pesticide but was timely hospitalized and rescued. But Nayan was so traumatized by the ragging incident that after a month when his father wanted him to rejoin classes, Nayan hanged himself from the ceiling fan and died on October, 8^th, 2009. This shows a gross societal failure, wherein after intervention of family and social security institutions, the victim could not be saved from death.

Like the previous years, this year also, high percentage of cases were reported from Engineering and Medical Colleges with a total of 68 cases (42% the total cases). Hostels and paying guest accommodation for students still remain to be the breeding ground for ragging as 91 cases or 56% of the total cases were reported from these places located in and around the campus area.

On the positive side, in 2009-10 academic session was the increase in police involvement and registration of FIR in ragging cases. Police intervention was noted in 66% of the total ragging incidents reported during the last 12 months as against 59% in academic session 2008-09.

“With so much fear, mystery and secrecy associated with ragging the only way to analyse the situation of ragging in the country is to track media reports and explore the trends and nature of this evil. Number of unreported incidents of ragging are much higher, nevertheless media reports are an important indicator on how widespread the phenomenon of ragging is still existent in our country.” says Harsh Agarwal, Co-founder, CURE.

“Our analysis states the obvious: Ragging is still widespread and its social impact is non-trivial. We are not happy with the steps the government or the educational institutions have taken. There is a lot of talk, but little work. A simple question to ask is how many educational institutions were fined or deaffiliated for breeding ragging, The unfortunate answer is 0.” says Varun Aggarwal, Co-founder, CURE.

About CURE

Established in 2001, Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (www.noragging.com) is India’s foremost anti-ragging non-profit organization. CURE is a research organization dedicated solely towards the elimination of ragging and promotion of more positive ways of interaction among seniors and freshers in Indian universities. For more details, please contact:

Email: cure@noragging.com,

Psychology behind Ragging

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:37:00 +0530

Psychology behind Ragging

(Speech by Harsh Agarwal at a seminar organised by DLSA on 20.03.2010)

Ragging has been debated and discussed for ages now but we always ignored to understand the hidden psychological mysteries associated with this menace. It has been almost two decades since we started to recognize ragging as a problem and hunt for a solution. But we have not moved much from the point, where we were 10 or 20 years back.

In our attempt to look for a quick solution we perhaps focused only on the law and order aspect of ragging but ignored to probe its psychological side. I find it extremely difficult to comprehend, that though ragging has taken so many innocent lives, ruined so many bright careers; it is perhaps the only social and human rights problem in the world in which the victim himself/herself becomes the perpetrator of the crime and yet nobody got interested to study and understand this mysterious phenomenon. We never bother to unravel the mystery that how a victim who is tormented badly makes his abuser his best pal in a short span of time and starts to believe and practice the same custom on his juniors.

We never bothered to question the ‘Whys’ of ragging. Why ragging is being practiced? Why does it get mass support? Why do people believe in such a custom? May be exploring answer to these questions and awareness of these answers could help us eradicate forever.

In the absence of any scientific study on ragging, I would therefore start with the myths, mindset, brainwashing involved with ragging and try to explain how all this translate into a strong belief system which you can call as a psychology behind this evil and I would also try to draw similarities with other proven scientific concepts.

My understanding of this psychology behind ragging is not based on any scientific study but largely on my personal experiences of last 10 years. First as a fresher who was ragged badly in a medical college and had to leave it, then as a victim who ran from pillar to post and struggled for two years to get justice and now finally as an anti-ragging activist closely observing, researching and thinking on this issue for the past eight years.

Starting with the myths and misunderstanding, which I call as the pillars that support the concept of ragging, are (a) Many believe that ragging helps in breaking the ice between the seniors and freshers; it helps in making friendship; some say it helps in emotional bonding between the students (b) many believe that ragging helps in personality development of the students; helps them getting rid of their shyness; prepares them for the real world.

And it is not only students studying in college believing in such concept but many teachers teaching in universities and colleges, people who went to college several years ago or even people who never went to college but just heard about the virtues of ragging blindly believe in such myths.

We can easily find people around us from all walks of life who strongly believe in such myths. Though because of the Supreme Court guidelines and tragic cases of ragging reported in recent times they will hesitate to openly show their support. However on talking to them, they would first segregate ragging into mild and severe and then gradually start justifying its need for the initiation of a long lasting camaraderie among students and its need to prepare the youngsters for the 'real world'.

And I see a major mindset problem whenever we try to define and draw the limits of ragging. We argue a lot over mild versus severe ragging. Any discussion on ragging eventually turns into a debate on mild versus severe ragging. And I see even today majority of people are in favour of mild ragging. But we need to think, can there be anything like mild ragging? What may be mild for someone may be severe for others. We must forget that all tragic cases of ragging started only in their milder forms or it was fun for someone. We need to understand that it is impossible to draw a line once ragging starts.

Then there is another problem, many of us who went to college several years ago though condemn ragging but we have a tendency to cherish our ragging days. Recently I met a very successful and a ‘learned’ gentleman. We met for some work purpose and after our brief introduction he came to know that I run an organization which opposes ragging. This was quite interesting for him because during his engineering and management studies he was ragged and he ragged as well, which he enjoyed a lot. He soon started justifying that why ragging is good for youngsters and how it helped him in making friends and how much fun he had those days and that Aman Kachroo’s case is an exception and it shouldn’t have happened. Soon our business meeting turned into an hour long debate on ragging versus noragging. And this is not the only example, I have seen whenever there is discussion on ragging we become nostalgic about our own ragging time. How good it was; how much fun we had with our seniors and juniors and it is only now that ragging has deteriorated.

When we make such comparisons and suggest others that my ragging was healthy and now it has turned ugly then aren’t we somewhere in a subtle way justifying the concept and need of this evil practice? Aren’t in some way we are asking only for reform in the menace but not the complete eradication of it? Next time before we do this again, we need to think about it.

Recently I visited a prestigious medical college in Bangalore and I was told that after strictness against ragging on campus, senior students have boycotted their juniors and there is confusion. There is confusion as to what amounts to ragging and what doesn’t; what will happen to the senior–junior interaction in the absence of ragging. Can seniors now talk freely to their juniors? And, this confusion exists not only in this medical college in Bangalore but in of colleges and universities across the country. Strictness alone cannot solve this problem but will lead to confusion.

Another strong reason behind ragging is our failure to inculcate in our youngsters a feeling of respect for people from different backgrounds. As a result when youngsters go to college, ragging becomes a soft tool to manifest that hatred ness they nurtured against people from other communities. It is a bitter fact to accept but across the country ragging is mainly done on the lines of caste, region, language, religion, economic background and all other different diversities that we have in society. I remember just this week only a ragging case was reported from Andhra Pradesh in which seniors ragged their juniors because the juniors belonged to the Telangana part and seniors were from different region of the state.

Here I would briefly touch upon the subject of bullying, especially bullying in schools. I believe to some extent bullying in school is the seed that germinates into ragging in college. Across the world, people bully others to establish their supremacy by making fun of someone’s background or certain traits which might be in minority. It could be on someone’s accent; it could be on someone’s physique; it could be on someone’s native place or it could be on someone’s economic background. Schools in the western countries have started to take bullying as a serious offence and sensitizing their students against it. However given the enormous diversity that we have in our country, bullying in school is on a much larger scale in India but the problem is yet to be recognized.

It is all this that has gradually transformed into a psychology; it is this which influences not only young minds but society as well.

Talking about the society, I see a strange paradox. Whenever there is a death due to ragging we come on the streets to show our anger against this menace. But when movies like 3 Idiots and Munnabhai show ragging scenes, then inside the theatre we find those scenes humorous and forget the protests that we participated in the past.

I sometimes ask myself, when the society hasn't accepted ragging as a social evil but still seeking humor in it then how will we implement the anti ragging laws? After all implementation has to be done by the society, on the society and this is possible only when there is conviction and consensus on that issue, which seems to be currently lacking with regard to ragging.

When ten years ago I was affected with ragging and later when I started working as an anti ragging activist, I always believed that law needs to be strengthened to curb this menace. However in the last 4-5 years I have come to the conclusion that ragging is more of a mindset problem than anything else. Though it looks simple to solve it by making strict laws but we can never solve it unless we change the mindset as well. This can be done best by going into the roots of this problem. Though no specific study has been done on ragging, however I find certain western psychological concepts like Stanford Prison Experiment, Miligram Experiment, Stockholm syndrome, having close similarities with ragging and can help us broaden our understanding.

Amongst these three concepts, I find Stockholm syndrome to be most closely related to the phenomenon of ragging. Some of you might already know what Stockholm syndrome is. For others I will give a brief introduction.

In August 1973, two bank robbers, in Stockholm held 3 women and a man hostage for a period of 6 days. In those six days the hostages developed emotional bonds with their captors and exhibited shocking attitude. They not only resisted the attempt made by the police to rescue them but one of the woman hostages later got engaged to one of the kidnappers and another arranged fund for the legal defense of the kidnappers. This incident baffled many across the world.

Psychologists later tried to study the behavior shown by the Stockholm hostages and termed this phenomenon as 'Stockholm Syndrome'. Psychologists believe that hazing, child abuse, pimp-prostitute relationship, battered spouses’ relationship, etc work on same psychology and call them 'Societal Stockholm Syndrome'.

According to evolutionary psychology, capture-bonding, or social reorientation after capture, was an essential survival feature for millions of years. The captives who reoriented survived, and those who did not form social bonds with captors were killed. Psychologists say that anyone can become a victim of Stockholm Syndrome if the certain conditions are met: (i) Perceived threat to survival (ii) The captive's perception of small kindnesses from the captor (iii) Isolation from perspectives other than those of the captor (iv) Perceived inability to escape. And it is said that it takes as little as 3-4 days for this psychology to take hold of the victim.

When I recall my ragging days in Medical College at Allahabad, I find close similarities with Stockholm syndrome. Each time during ragging, my seniors used to first beat me recklessly for hours without any provocation then show act of kindness by offering me tea, samosa, cold drink and promise me of helping me later with notes. Perhaps unknowingly they were applying this same psychological technique; trying to break me psychologically. Same pattern can be seen in ragging across the country. Most of the victims just give in to this strong psychological technique. Fortunately this phenomenon did not work on me; however, now I feel that if little less torture had been applied or my parents had not allowed me to leave the college, I would have easily become a victim of it and would have happily bonded with my tormentors.

Here is another example of this psychology. Recently I saw a similar situation in an award winning Polish film ‘Your name is Justyna’. This film almost brought tears to my eyes and on several occasions even forced me to change the channel. This film shows a pimp who uses similar strategy to convince Justyna, the lead character in that film, into prostitution. His strategy was to psychologically break her down by using torture and kindness alternately. The director of this Film, Franco De Penn, while doing research on this subject found that using this psychological tactics, more than one hundred and fifty thousand girls in Europe were taken into prostitution. He says that this experience is so shocking that it takes away individual's whole personality.

People who have worked on Stockholm syndrome agree that it does help in establishing emotional bonds but they call it 'traumatic bonding' and a manipulative behavior. If this is the same psychology that helps in establishing bonds between the students during ragging then we need to ask ourselves. For the sake of bonding, is it justified to go this far and try destructive methods at the cost of one’s liberty, dignity and personality or even life? I am sure none of us would agree.

So now we come to the question how do we solve the problem of ragging? Where does the solution lie? Today Laws have been made, ragging has been banned by the Supreme Court, 24 hour helpline number has been started but it seems that the problem just refuses to die down. Did we ever question why this is so? It is so because the pillars that support the concept of ragging are still intact. We have not yet tried to address the fundamental reasons which are given to justify ragging. Real problem is that we have done everything we could do but we are yet to make our students think on this issue. Solution lies in thinking. We have to give students a chance to think and question the reasons that support this menace.

And not only students but we all need to introspect and realise, isn’t ragging like a mass friendship crash course? Does friendship require any artificial mechanism? All friends that we have are because of ragging? Can we make friendship only by dancing and singing? What if I don’t know to dance or sing but I am good at painting? Then I can’t make friends?

To my knowledge ragging is not prevalent in western countries, does that mean people there don’t make friends, don’t have good personality; they can’t face the real world?

Today we have created lot of awareness about the ill effects of ragging, about the ban on ragging, about the toll free number, which I think is good but we also need to create awareness about various other important aspects of ragging. There is still a very little knowledge about the origin of this sort of tradition, why is it irrelevant in today’s time, Where did it come from? How and when it came to India? Which other countries in the world follow this practice? Spreading awareness of these aspects can play an important role in weakening the mass support, which ragging currently enjoys.

In the end, just summing up my points and re-highlighting them again I would say that along with strict laws we need to create comprehensive awareness, we need to dispel all the misconceptions about ragging, we need to intelligently break the belief system that supports ragging, we need to instill in our youngsters a sense of respect and sensitivity towards the differences and diversity that we see in our society.

I am sure after introspection on ragging, we would just hate to be identified with it, we would be forced to rethink about the virtues of ragging we believe in, we would be forced to rethink the justifications we give to support ragging and this would eventually lead to its natural death simply by the way of thinking and application of logic.

'Society has not accepted ragging as a social evil'

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:01:00 +0530

Jyoti Punwani, 13 January 2010, 12:00am IST

The ragging incident involving 18 students attached to KEM Hospital's prestigious G S Medical College has shocked Mumbai. Mohit Garg, co-founder of Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE) and the website noragging.com, tells Jyoti Punwani that ragging can be eliminated:

Q: What do you think of the action against the accused students?

Filing the FIR against them was swift and appreciable, and in keeping with the Supreme Court guidelines. But the chief minister's statement that their careers should not be affected does not help. A crime is a crime and should be handled as such. Careers are not more important than the dignity of life. Another issue here is that those who were ragged should not be ostracised. Typically in such cases, freshers are blamed for spoiling careers, which is another deterrent against complaints.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was far severe ragging happening in other professional colleges in Mumbai. As per a CURE study, the number of media-reported cases in Maharashtra is low compared to Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. This does not imply less ragging, since reported cases would be a tiny fraction of the incidents happening on the ground.

Q: Are there any support systems or networks for victims?

Unfortunately, no. I have seen cases of very severe ragging victims trying to contact one another but either people wish to forget and don't connect with other victims or their own fight is so time-consuming that they are unable to give anything beyond sympathy to others. Another perspective against such a network is that instead of victims carrying the scar throughout their lives, the best remedy is to help them get back to normal as quickly as possible.

Q: Some students feel ragging can never end because its victims want to avenge their humiliation on their juniors.

This is a vicious circle - the victim becoming the perpetrator. We can break it by ensuring that two or three batches are not ragged. This would eliminate the revenge feeling. In fact, most colleges that have successfully eliminated ragging have done this.

CURE advocates a three-pronged approach. One, monitor ragging and mete out strict punishments. The victim cannot be expected to complain. Offenders should be punished strictly according to law, since whatever is inflicted in the name of ragging is a criminal offence. Two, create social awareness. In every ragging death, it emerges that the victim informed his parents, who took it lightly. Whenever one talks to friends about ragging, they think that only cowards are scared of it. Society has not accepted ragging as a social evil. It's regarded as a necessary initiation ritual, a joke. Ragging is not fashionable, please! Three, alternate means of interaction for breaking the ice.

We should have a college-ranking system that includes ragging as a criterion. Only this will make reputation-conscious colleges improve their efforts to eliminate ragging.

Is it really funny?

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0530

I came to know that recently released movie 3 Idiots has a scene on ragging, shown in a lighter sense. This is director Raj Kumar Hirani's second film, first being Munnabhai MBBS, where ragging has been used as a theme to make the audience laugh.

Today I tried surfing on net to find the details of this ragging scene and came across several hundred blogs and websites where this scene was immensely appreciated and was considered one of the most humorous scenes in the film.

I find this extremely shocking as hardly 9 months back, when a medical student died because of ragging, the entire nation stood as one and we all condemned this menace. However today it seems we have forgotten the tragedy perhaps too soon that we are trying to find humor in that same tragic issue.

This not only shows the insensitivity towards the issue but more importantly such acts significantly add to the confusion already existing in the society vis-a-vis ragging. Millions of people, who don't know anything about ragging but have watched Munnabhai MBBS, still remember the scene from this film and believe that ragging is all about dance and fun.

This act of glorifying ragging by showing it in lighter way in films, newspapers, etc. does nothing but strengthens the justification, which students give to support ragging.

Here I am not suggesting of censorship usually advocated by social activists. I believe that censorship must come from within, by the call of conscience. Nevertheless, we all know that film is always considered as reflection of society and what film does reflect in this case is our poor understanding and thus lack of sensitivity with regard to the issue of ragging.

I remember, in June this year I was watching We the People on NDTV 24X7, the discussion was on evils of ragging. However, as usual the discussion soon turned into a debate on mild ragging versus no ragging and surprisingly majority of the participants justified mild ragging for ice-breaking between students.

It is needless to explain here that all the tragic cases of ragging started only in their milder forms. We cannot define what is mild ragging. Stripping or dancing in public may be fun for someone but extreme trauma for others. Moreover I fail to understand the logic of holding a week long ragging mela to facilitate mass friendship-something which is extremely amusing and sounds like a forced friendship crash course.

I doubt we would even think of having a debate on mild terrorism or mild caste system. Similarly I doubt any film director would be so insensitive to try to extract humor from sensitive social issues like Sati or Dowry.

We need to ask ourselves that why there is still so much ambiguity about social issue like ragging. Why does the society still see ragging as fun? Have we made enough efforts to sensitize people about the evils of ragging?

I strongly believe that we are yet to establish ragging as a social evil and unless we address this fundamental problem, we will always find it difficult to implement the laws framed to contain ragging.

Student volunteers take up case against ragging

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:04:00 +0530

Jatin Anand, Hindustan Times

New Delhi, October 11, 2009

There was something different about the screening of Anarth: In the name of Education by CURE (the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education) at Delhi Public School, R.K Puram, on Sunday.

The 30-minute film and the hour-long interaction after it did more than merely condemn the practice, providing figures about ragging-related deaths and legislative punishments related to the offense.

It was an attempt by members of the student community to sensitise civil society about the psychological and emotional after-effects that students suffer from because of physical and sexual oppression in the guise of ragging at the hands of their seniors.

“There are thousands of students who suffer silently; they are helpless and never come out in the open. This film is an effort to bring this suffering to the notice of the society,” said Varun Aggarwal, Co-founder, CURE.

“I think it is a big step that the students have taken to educate the society about this menace through this film,” he said.

Created by three student volunteers from the Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, the film was based on the interviews of two victims who described what they went through during their first years in a medical college, before drawing parallels with the kind of abuse faced by their friends at other colleges.

In addition to questioning why ragging still existed and what restricted freshers from reporting abuse to college authorities, the gathering also attempted to address the retributive character of ragging.

“It’s a vicious cycle and fits many parameters of the dreaded Stockholm Syndrome,” said Harsh Aggarwal, CO-founder, CURE. “In most cases, not only has the victim has turned into the perpetrator but also ended up respecting the latter as a result of sustained abuse.”

A short film "Anarth" on ragging screened: By the students, for the society

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0530

Punjab Newsline Network
Monday, 12 October 2009

NEW DELHI: Often, the death of a social evil is initiated, when the suffering community itself takes the first steps in uprooting the evil. This has started to happen in the case of ragging. Three students from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology have come up with a short film on ragging to sensitize the civil society about this problems which students are facing across the country.

The film, "Anarth: In the name of Education" was released on 11th October, which is observed as the Nationwide No Ragging Day. Four years back, Amit Sahai, a student at NIT Jalandhar killed himself by jumping in front of a train due to brutal ragging.

The film was screened at the auditorium at Delhi Public School, RK Puram at 11am on 11th October by CURE: Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (www.noragging.com). More than hundred people from all wakes of life including parents, teachers, professionals and students attended the screening. A 2-minutes silence was observed in the beginning of the event in respect of all who lost their lives due to ragging and many others who are suffering. Dr. Saini, Principal, DPS (RK Puram) addressed the audience for a short while describing the various practical steps taken by the school to make hostels absolutely ragging-free.

The audience saw the 35 minute movie with rapt attention. The movie showed interview of two ragging victims who narrated their tale of horror on camera. They also discussed the apathy of the college authorities, how their friends at other campuses suffered and how the anti-ragging squad was totally ineffective. The movie showed statistics that the number of reported cases of ragging has increased dramatically after the supreme court judgment. Finally, the movie talked about how through a ‘call of conscience' the menace of ragging can be controlled.

The movie was followed by an Open House, where audience participated in a question-answer session. A faculty member from NSIT (Delhi), Dr. Duru Arun Kumar pointed towards the responsibility of the faculty in curbing ragging and how they should play an active role to curb the menace. There was a consensus amongst the group that the film should be shown in each and every college of the country to sensitize students against the menace. Many from the audience stated that they did not know that ragging could be that bad and so many people have suffered due to it.

Bhavesh, Akshay and Abhinav, the creators of the video are volunteers for CURE: Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (http://www.noragging.com/) and started working on the video six months back. The thirty minutes film is based on the interview of two students, who faced continuous ragging at their college, but never disclosed it to anyone including their parents. The interviews were shot by Sukanksha and Vaibhav, who are also students and volunteers with CURE.

"If one scans through the number of ragging incidents that have taken place in the last two months, they will be shocked. The numbers are as high as those reported in the last complete one year. Despite all judgments, the problem is here to stay and we need a call to conscience to end this problem", says Harsh Agarwal, Co-founder, CURE.

The final message of the film is that espoused by the Mahatma, "We can be the change". This film indeed can be the change.

"Anarth: In the Name of Education": A short-film on ragging

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Thu, 8 Oct 2009 12:49:00 +0530

As you know, CURE has been working for the last 8 years in its small ways to uproot the menace of ragging. This year, with an aim to sensitize the civil society about ragging, CURE has produced a short film on ragging based on the interviews of two students who faced brutal ragging at their campus. The film has been created by three students of Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology and is an effort by the student community to educate the society about this menace.

The film will be released on 11th October, which is observed as the Nationwide No Ragging Day. Four years back, Amit Sahai, a student at NIT Jalandhar killed himself by jumping in front of a train due to brutal ragging.

We would like to invite you, your family and friends for this short film. We shall really appreciate your participation in this event and your concern for this issue.

********************************************************************
Release of "Anarth: In the Name of Education":
A short-film on ragging, 35 minutes
Trailer of movie: http://tinyurl.com/anarth-preview

Date: 11th October, 2009
Time: 10:45am
Venue: Auditorium, Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram
********************************************************************

I look forward to receiving you at the venue on 11th October. You may feel free to contact us for any questions or concerns. Please note, that your participation will not only give impetus to our struggle against ragging, but serve as an encouragement for the young minds who have made this short film.

Kindly mail us at anarth@noragging.com to confirm your participation or call at.

PS: The program for the event is attached below.

Program:
11:15am: Light Tea
11:30am: Screening of movie
12:05: Open House
12:25: Introduction to Film Creators and closing remarks.

Thanks,

CURE Team

Is it Ragging or Stockholm Syndrome in our Campuses?

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Wed, 5 Aug 2009 23:50:00 +0530

-Harsh Agarwal

Ragging is debated and discussed for ages now but we always stopped short of understanding the hidden psychological mysteries behind it. It has been more than a decade and a half since we started to recognize this problem and hunt for a solution but we are still far way from our goal. At the outset the problem looks very simple but as one enters into it and tries to understand, it becomes more complicated than unfolding the Bermuda triangle mystery.

In our attempt to look for an early solution we perhaps focused too much on the law and order aspect of ragging and ignored to probe on the psychological front. We didn’t bother to unravel the mystery that how a victim who is tormented badly makes his abuser his best pal in a short span of time and starts to follow the same strategy on his junior. May be exploring answer to these questions and awareness of these answers could have led to a better understanding of this problem and have sorted it by now.

In August 1973, two bank robbers in Stockholm held 3 women and one man hostage for a period of 6 days. In those six days the hostages developed emotional bonds with their captors and exhibited shocking attitude. They not only resisted the attempt made by the police to rescue them but one of the woman hostages later got engaged to one of the kidnappers and another arranged fund for the legal defense of the kidnappers. This incident baffled many across the world. Psychologists later tried to study the behavior shown by the Stockholm hostages and termed this phenomenon as 'Stockholm Syndrome'. They say that this is a common behavior seen in hostage situation. Psychologists believe that hazing, child abuse, pimp-prostitute relationship, battered spouses’ relationship, etc work on the same psychology and call them 'Societal Stockholm Syndrome'.

In evolutionary psychology, psychologists explain that capture-bonding, or social reorientation after capture, was an essential survival feature for millions of years. The captives who reoriented survived, and those who did not form social bonds with captors were killed. Psychologists believe that anyone can get Stockholm Syndrome if the following conditions are met: (i) Perceived threat to survival (ii) The captive's perception of small kindnesses from the captor (iii) Isolation from perspectives other than those of the captor (iv) Perceived inability to escape. Psychologists believe that it takes about three or four days for this psychology to take hold of the victim mentally. A more in depth information about the psychology that works in such situations and the effect it has on one's personality can be found in the book 'Psychology of torture' by Dr. Sam Vaknin

Now, when I look back to my ragging days in Medical College, I can easily understand why my seniors, each time during ragging, used to first beat me recklessly for hours without any provocation then show act of kindness towards me and offer me tea, samosa, etc. and promise me of helping me later with notes. Perhaps they were applying this same psychological technique of torture by playing the good guy and bad guy at the same time, trying to break me psychologically- an art they learnt from their seniors. Same pattern in ragging can be seen across the country. Most of the victims just give in to this strong psychological tactics. Fortunately this phenomenon did not work on me; however, I feel that if little less torture had been applied, I would have easily become a victim of it.

Recently I saw a similar situation in an award winning Polish film ‘Your name is Justyna’. This film almost brought tears to my eyes and on several occasions even forced me to change the channel. The film shows a pimp who uses similar strategy to convince Justyna, the lead character in that film, into prostitution. His strategy was to psychologically break her down by simultaneously using torture and kindness. The director of this Film, Franco De Penn, while doing research on this subject found that using this psychological phenomenon, more than one hundred and fifty thousand girls in Europe were taken into prostitution. He says that this experience is so shocking that it takes away individual's whole personality. Psychologists who have worked on this phenomenon believe that this is not only harmful to the individual who goes through it but also to others around him/her.

This psychology is so long lasting that we can find people around us who went through ragging decades ago but are still under the influence of this psychology. Though because of the Supreme Court guidelines and tragic cases of ragging reported in recent times they will hesitate to openly show their support. However on talking to them, they would first segregate ragging into mild and severe and then gradually start justifying its need for the initiation of a long lasting camaraderie among students and its need to prepare the students for the 'real world'. Psychologists agree that this phenomenon helps in establishing emotional bond but they call it 'traumatic bonding' and a manipulative behavior which has harmful effect on victim’s personality. We need to ask ourselves that for the sake of bonding, is it justified to go this far and try destructive methods at the cost of one's liberty, dignity and personality. I am sure none of us would agree.

People are so blind folded by the virtues of ragging that they are not aware of the destructive psychology behind it. Furthering our understanding and awareness of this psychology could help in weakening the mass support that ragging enjoys and can gradually put a psychological taboo on it. I believe that asking the students and faculty to do some Google search on such psychological phenomenon might prove more useful than various methods of awareness that we are currently following. After knowing that ragging is a psychological disorder, many would just hate to be identified with it, many would be forced to rethink about the virtues of ragging they believe in, many would be forced to rethink the justifications they give to support ragging and this might eventually lead to peaceful and natural death of ragging by the simple method of thinking and application of logic.

Rag(ging) and rants at top business school

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:41:00 +0530

By: Amit Singh Date: 2009-07-24 Place:Delhi

IIFT fresher ragged by seniors allegedly in an inebriated state

It's the dream institute for any aspiring management student, but for this fresher of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), the experience of the first few days was nothing less than a nightmare. Ragged by seven to eight seniors, the fresher was made to run around the college for more than half-an-hour and was asked to stand in front of the girl's hostel and shout at the highest decibel possible.

The email (a copy of which is with MiD DAY), that was written by the student's father around 1 am on July 5, read: "I am extremely sad to say that my son rang me up half-an- hour ago, complaining about the harassment faced from some of the senior students. The seniors he said were drunk and were harassing him and a few other students by asking vulgar and obscene things. This happened for around 45 minutes. And later, the seniors made my son and others run around the college and they were asked to shout things outside the girl's hostel."

"My son, pursing MBA in International Business (IB), told me there were about seven to eight seniors but he could identify only four Amandeep Mattaa, Saurabh Sipani, Sujoy and Ankit Bhutani. It is shocking to know that students holding positions in the student's bodies are also involved in this activity. Being a concerned parent, I just wanted to bring this to your notice so that such acts don't take bad form," the mail further read.

It seems ragging is still not a taboo in colleges, and instances like these only strengthen the seriousness of the act. "After receiving the email, the four students were asked to leave the hostel immediately. However, a number of junior students requested us to revoke the action against them. Later, we also received an email from the student's father requesting not to punish the boys mentioned in the earlier email," said Dr L D Mago, registrar, IIFT.

When MID DAY tried to know the version of Ankit Bhutani, one of the students named in the email, who is also the current president of the student's body, he refused to speak saying, "It's none of your business."

On request of anonymity, a First Year student of IIFT said, "Our session started from July 1 and from the same day, we were asked to line up at the seminar hall at night, which is in depleted condition with poor ventilators.

All 159 students were then made to sit in that room for hours along with few seniors. With no air conditioner and window, we kept sweating for hours.

"Though ragging was not harsh but it was no doubt embarrassing. The seniors made us introduce ourselves, sing, dance and act. All this happened till one or two in the night and continued for four to five days. In the morning, we have yoga sessions from six and hardly get three to four hours of sleep. This 'fun-session' of seniors continued for a week, before it finally stopped," added the student.

IIFT is one of the prestigious B-schools in the country, which was set up in 1963 by the government to provide foreign trade management expertise and increase exports.

Status check

According to a report by the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), a voluntary group, the number of ragging cases reported (between July 2008 and June 2009) are 88; number of ragging deaths are 12 and number of attempted suicides (due to ragging) are five. The previous year had 89 cases out of which 11 resulted in deaths and there were five attempted suicides.

The court says

Following the death of Amann Satya Kachroo, a First Year MBBS student of Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (RPGMC), Himachal Pradesh, due to ragging in March, the Supreme Court directed all state governments to constitute committees to look into the incidents of ragging and take measures for de-addiction in cases of alcoholism. The apex court also stated that every college should have a psychiatrist to provide counsel to the students

Campus menace continues despite tough laws: report

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:39:00 +0530

HYDERABAD: Stringent laws, firm steps, and the heightened media focus notwithstanding, the menace of ragging increased this year in educational institutions across the country, with Andhra Pradesh topping the dubious list followed by West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

According to a report released by the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), the number of incidents reported has seen a three-fold increase in a majority of States, despite the Human Resource Development Ministry, the University Grants Commission and other regulatory bodies dealing with the issue severely.

The number of ragging cases reported in the media from July 2008 to June 2009 was 88; ragging deaths 12, and attempted suicides five. Last year, out of 89 cases reported, 11 ended in deaths while five were attempted suicides.

An analysis of the last five years’ reports indicates that Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are the worst hit, with the first two recording 33 incidents each and the other 30.

In the last academic session, Andhra Pradesh reported 12 incidents of ragging, including four cases of death and one case of attempted suicide. West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh reported 10 incidents of ragging each.

Punjab, though a small State with fewer educational institutions, has consistently reported a high incidence.

Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, which did not report any ragging case in the past, reported six and seven incidents this year. Kerala, which reported a large number of incidents in the past, successfully contained the menace this academic year.

12 ragging deaths during last academic session

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:20:00 +0530

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 20

Coalition for Uprooting Ragging from Education (CURE), a civil society group involved in students’ awareness, today said 88 cases of ragging were reported from India over the last one year - no change from 89 that had surfaced a year earlier.

Analysing the latest trends in ragging, the CURE, in its report released here today, concluded that ragging claimed 12 lives across the country this year; the number was 11 last year. There have been five reported cases of attempted suicides by students, tormented by their seniors at colleges.

The report takes note of the recent measures taken by the Human Resource Development Ministry to curb ragging and finds that the situation has far from improved.

Among the states that are the worst-hit, Andhra Pradesh, with 12 of the 88 reported ragging cases, tops the list. West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh come next with 10 cases each.

In the last session, Andhra Pradesh reported 12 incidents of ragging, including four deaths and one attempted suicide. Punjab, though a small state with low numbers of educational institutions, has been consistently reporting high number of ragging incidents.

During the last session, Punjab accounted for 8 of the 88 reported cases of student harassment on campuses.

It may be noted that Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, the earliest states to have enacted anti-ragging law (the Andhra Pradesh Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1997 and West Bengal Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institutions Bill, 2000), still suffer from the ragging menace.

“We believe that ragging is not just a law and order problem but also a social and psychological menace that can be eradicated through proper awareness and education,” Varun Agarwal of CURE today told The Tribune.

Another striking finding of the new report is that Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, which did not report any ragging cases in the past, have now started reporting the problem, with 6 and 7 cases, reported from the two states, respectively. The latest victim of ragging in Himachal was Aman Kachroo.

Kerala seems to be the only state that has managed to reduce cases involving the harassment of students by seniors.

Call college, not govt anti-ragging helpline

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:59:00 +0530

By: Kranti Vibhute Date: 2009-07-16 Place:Mumbai

Month after govt launches call centre, colleges start pvt helplines to avoid national attention

No college wants a ragging incident that involves their students to become a national issue. Incidentally, many colleges have introduced their own helplines within a month after the government launched its 24X7 Anti-ragging Helpline on June 20.

Harsh Agarwal, coordinator of Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), said, "Colleges want to discourage students from using the national helpline.

Why would they publicise their private helpline during admissions? A centralised system will help address the issue, while the matter can be swept under the carpet if the college handles it."

On the other hand, social activists say colleges have created private helplines, as calls to the national call centre are forwarded to police stations and victims want privacy.

No database

Raj Kachroo, father of MBBS student Aman who was ragged to death in a medical college in Himachal Pradesh, said, "Ragging incidents are a national issue and colleges will not do justice."

However, he added that the government helpline is handicapped, as no NGO monitors it.

"The helpline did not receive enough publicity and doesn't have the database of the 20,000 colleges in India to contact authorities and students. How will it work?" asked Kachroo.

Till date, the national helpline has registered 120 complaints.

The principal of Usha Pravin Gandhi Management College at Vile Parle was unaware of the national anti-ragging helpline.

"We have started an anti-ragging cell in our college this year with guidance from the Mumbai University. Why shouldn't students contact us before calling the national helpline? We will help them at the earliest."

Sources from the University Grant Commission (UGC) said that they have received many fake calls on the national helpline. "Students may have called to see how fast the helpline acts."

Education Consultancy India Ltd set up the national call centre and it also monitors the government helpline.

Sukdeo Thorat, UGC chairman said, "The national helpline has not recorded any serious cases so far and I don't know of any college that has its own helpline."

Govt helpline no: 1800-180-5522 email helpline@antiragging.net

Private Centres

1. Bhavan's College, Andheri
2. Bhavan's Hazarimal Somani College Of Arts & Science, Chowpatty
3. Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology in Chembur
4. Savera is an anti-ragging helpline started in by Pune students from 50 colleges

CURE SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:55:00 +0530

About CURE
CURE is a non-profit organization dedicated solely towards the elimination of ragging and promotion of more positive ways of interaction among seniors and freshers in Indian universities. CURE was started by three students in the year 2001 as a website and has now become the most active group on ragging. It is run by alumni of IIT, MIT(USA) and those with experience in Planning Commision of the Govt. of India.

CURE: Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (www.noragging.com) is a research, awareness and advocacy body against ragging. Established in 2001, CURE is the first organization to take up the cause of ragging and has ever since involved in research activities involving collection and analysis of ragging data, campaigns such as printing/distribution of newsletters, slogan stickers, talk shows and working with various govt/non-govt bodies . CURE acted as a consultant to the Raghavan Committee of the Ministry of HRD, provided research data to the govt of India and was cited several times in the Raghavan Committee Report. CURE's portal (www.noragging.com) has been referenced by many institutes such as IIT, Delhi, colleges in Punjab and South India. Last year, CURE launched the first song and video on `Ragging' (www.noragging.com/video). The video has been made with a collaborative effort of the CURE team and first year students of NSIT, Delhi. The video has already made its way to MTV, NDTV and Aaj-Tak. It has also become the `Ragging Anthem' on youtube. CURE has been covered in each and every newspaper and News Channel in India across the Nation.

CURE website: www.noragging.com

CURE SUMMER INTERNSHIP
CURE is providing an exciting opportunity to first/second year students to utilize their summers in a fruitful way with scope of learning plethora of new things by doing and by experience, for a very relevant cause. The internship would require putting together creativity with technical-knowhow to create powerful media to sensitize the Nation about the cause. The candidate shall work on conceptualization and design of a video based on a ragging-victim interview, which shall hit the all the leading dailies and news channel in August.

The candidate will get opportunity to learn the nuances and seriousness of the issue and will gain experience in product development which will highly develop & enhance his/her presentation and product-selling skills. The candidate shall also discover how to self-learn new tools on a computer and how with concentrated effort, a very impressive and relevant product can be designed.

SKILLS REQUIRED
* Completed first/second year of college. With Keen interest in learning new things.
* Ease of working on computer and a fast self-learner of new tools and software.
* Ready to work hard and patient.
* Creative, good aesthetic and common sense.
* Aware of /sensitive to happenings around.
* Patient.
* Positive towards new ideas and reviews.

Period
End June till 7th August 2009.

Stipend
A respectable amount will be paid to cover basic costs of the person. The motivation of the project should be immense learning and contributing to a live project.

To Apply:
Send your resume to varun.aggarwal@noragging.com

With a 100 words(maximum) answer to "Why you would like to be a part of this project?"- Show quoted tex

RIGHTS-INDIA: Shades of Abu Ghraib in College Ragging Rituals

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:57:00 +0530

NEW DELHI, Jun 16 (IPS) - As the annual scrimmage for coveted seats in India’s engineering and medical colleges gets underway, what many students dread is the sadistic ritual of ragging - or hazing - that they expect to undergo at the hands of their seniors.

"I know that the Supreme Court has passed directions ordering the government to take steps to curb ragging but I doubt they can be enforced," says prospective engineering student Prahlad Goyal, who hopes to enter one of the several Indian Institutes of Technology.

On May 7 - moved by the death of Aman Satya Kachroo, a first-year student at a medical college in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh state following a brutal beating by his seniors - the apex court issued orders to all provincial governments to ensure that ragging gets stamped out. Under India’s federal system, health and education are subject to state oversight.

But that was not the first time that the Supreme Court has tried to intervene. In 2006, the court issued directions to the state governments to monitor ragging on college campuses, and to set up a formal committee to study the practice and come up with ways to curb it.

Kachroo's death triggered a nationwide furor. Yet, a week later, a young female engineering student in southern Andhra Pradesh attempted suicide after being put through a ragging ordeal by her seniors that involved ‘strip dancing.’

Goyal’s businessman father told IPS that he would rather fork out money to have Prahlad educated abroad rather than put his son’s life and limb at risk. "Like Aman, Prahlad is an only son," he explained.

"This is open sadism," says Sanjay Pai of the Columbia Asia Referral Hospital in Bangalore. In an interview with IPS, Pai said notions of inferiority or superiority were often involved in cases of ragging.

"I suspect that caste and ethnicity also play a role, but we do not have the data to prove it," Pai said. "If you are to extrapolate from what happens in India - caste-based killings taking place from time to time - and there are numerous examples of this - I think this is one cause, but also, if all castes were the same, ragging would still take place."

In an editorial for the April-June issue of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, written jointly with Prabha S. Chandra of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, Pai notes that, "alienation based on caste and language may play a role in the higher frequency of ragging in certain situations."

Pai and Chandra admit, in their editorial, that they do not have real answers to why "normal, reasonably intelligent youngsters - often from middle class backgrounds with appropriate upbringing - indulge in senseless and sadistic acts."

In 2001 the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE) was created. According to CURE’s website, the group was set up as a "non-profit organisation dedicated solely towards the elimination of ragging and promotion of more positive ways of interaction among seniors and ‘freshers’ in Indian universities."

CURE’s documentation of ragging in India presents a gruesome picture. There were 28 deaths and 23 attempted suicides attributed to ragging between 2003 and 2008. Severe ragging continues to be widely prevalent in most college hostels and, in the face of court rulings, university management has only acted to hush up incidents.

According to CURE, ragging - said to have been introduced as part of the public school system set up during British colonial rule - is too often seen by college administrations as a rite of initiation and a necessary evil, rather than a gross violation of human rights.

Apart from maintaining a website, CURE produces an annual periodical on ragging that is widely distributed by mail and e-mail. It also provides online counselling for victims of ragging - which the non-governmental organisation considers to be the biggest fear of any student entering college.

CURE’s studies, published on its website, draw parallels between ragging and what was practiced at the Iraqi prison camp of Abu Ghraib. "Forced sexual acts in public, including stripping in front of same or opposite sex classmates, passing urine in public, forced public masturbation, forced sexual activity," have been recorded, according to the website.

The biggest hurdle CURE faces in carrying out its avowed mission of building up public opinion against ragging is plain denial. College managements deny the existence of ragging to protect their good reputation as well as retain a convenient handle with which to break up legitimate strikes and protests over campus issues.

"We have not seen the regulatory bodies taking punitive action against institutions. We want to see punitive action against institutions which have not implemented anti-ragging provisions," said R.K. Raghavan who heads the committee appointed by the apex court.

Punitive action, said Raghavan, a former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, could range from cuts in grants for erring institutes to withdrawal of recognition.

"To the onlookers of some of the horrific consequences of ragging, what is startling is that teachers and administrators turn a blind eye towards the issue," Pai and Chandra noted in their editorial.

They have demanded strong action against ragging because "there are far too many indications that violence and bigotry - racial, religious, caste or others - have been on the rise in India over the past two decades or so."

"Violent practices are learned, and passed on from one generation to the next. What we need is a model for terminating ragging, terminating the very idea of deriving pleasure from humiliating another human being," Pai and Chandra opine.

Hank Nuwer, author of several books devoted to hazing, believes that India’s attempts to impose a lifetime ban on those caught ragging are doomed to failure and also likely to have educators mired in appeals and litigation.

"Hazing used to be practiced out in the open in the U.S., but when perpetrators faced expulsion from school and fraternity, plus misdemeanour or felony hazing charges, they took the practice underground," Nuwer wrote in an article published in the Times of India newspaper on Mar. 29.

Nuwer, who recently retired from the Indiana University School of Journalism, wrote that it would take a paradigm shift - where young people themselves begin to universally condemn hazing - before true reform can be expected to become the reality.

"And even if a decrease in ragging/hazing does occur due to toughened national laws in India and the U.S. and elsewhere, I have no doubt hazing will crop up again among students sometime in the future," the author of ‘Wrongs of Passage’ and the ‘Hazing Reader’ noted in his article.

According to Nuwer, hazing and ragging are "true scourges that allow us to see in our young people the kind of viciousness that erupted in the Americans’ holding pens for prisoners of war at Abu Ghraib."

Regulations under consideration and expected to be introduced this month include expulsions, heavy fines, imprisonment and the permanent blacklisting of offenders. Heads of educational institutions who fail to act against the accused could also find themselves subjected to penal action.

(END/2009)

A life lost to ragging is one too many

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:36:00 +0530

Tuesday, 19 May 2009
A life lost to ragging is one too many
Nothing can really excuse the apathy of our society to the malaise of ragging and children dying as a consequence of ragging. Over the last few days, horror stories, each more shocking than the previous one, have appeared in our national media.

On March 8, Amann Kachroo, a 19-year-old student in Himachal Pradesh, was beaten to death by his seniors in the name of "ragging". A few days later a young girl in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, tried to commit suicide because her seniors had made her dance naked, again in the name of ragging.

What kind of society do we live in that our young children, who are at the most vulnerable stage of their emotional evolution, are irreparably hurt and damaged by this brutal assault upon their fragile self-esteem? How can we sit back and involve ourselves with the trivia of our day-to-day routine, when a cruel and inhuman attack on our own young people takes place in full public view in the name of ragging? How bizarre and ironic it is under the guise of bonhomie, senior students are breaking the hearts, and sometimes the will to live too, of freshers in their college?

Ragging or razing has been around for a long time in many countries. According to Harsh Agarwal, co-founder of the NGO Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education, "Ragging, hazing, fagging, bullying, pledging, horse-playing etc. are different terms used in different parts of the world but each signifies the same old practice of welcoming freshers in a barbaric manner".
This phenomenon can be traced back to as early as 7th or 8th century AD.
In Greek culture, new entrants to the sport community were subjected to all kinds of humiliations and teasing to inculcate team spirit. With the passage of time this technique was modified and adopted by the military forces, and from there it finally entered the education system.

Since its inception in the educational arena, ragging underwent several modifications before morphing into an organised form of campus violence. The first ragging related death occurred in 1873 when a freshman from Cornell University fell into a gorge as a consequence of ragging.
After World War I, ragging underwent a massive transformation and acquired its current brutal form. Soldiers returning from war re-entered colleges in the US and brought with them "hazing" (ragging) techniques learnt in military camp. "These techniques were used to make individual fail as an individual and succeed as a team," Mr Agarwal said.

In India, ragging did not really plague our educational institutions because higher education was a privilege enjoyed only by certain sections of society and only the mildest form of teasing was resorted to between members of this privileged elite. After the 60s, the spread of education brought students of different castes and communities and that's when the concept of ragging became a cloak for students of one community to tease and assert their superiority over others. Ragging, thus, acquired casteist overtones with very ugly dimensions and repercussions. And soon it became a matter of peer pressure to participate in ragging.

"During the early 90s, rapid mushrooming of new private engineering and medical colleges led to several disastrous experiments with this old practice of ragging. It made southern India a hub of this brutal activity. During the 90s ragging-related suicides began to increase. In 1997, Tamil Nadu, which was one of the worst affected states, was the first to bring legislation against ragging. In 2001, the Supreme Court banned ragging throughout the country. It was now left to college authorities to enforce this law. This led to complete disappearance of daytime ragging on campus, which was a much healthier and safer mode of interaction, while more threatening and virulent ragging in hostels continued to thrive in most colleges", Mr Agarwal said.

Today ragging is a complex phenomenon. It's a form of violence which has not just casteist but also chauvinistic and gender dimensions, and it would be no exaggeration to say that it has the potential to dangerously disturb harmony and innocence that exist (or should exist) in our educational institutions. From time to time, various authorities have made an attempt to contain and curb ragging as a human rights violation.

The Raghavan Committee, setup by the Supreme Court, had submitted a detailed report with recommendations to curb ragging in 2007. The Supreme Court accepted some of the findings of the Raghavan Committee and issued an interim order making college authorities and functionaries responsible for maintaining a ragging-free environment. FIRs could be lodged by parents and/or college authorities in ragging cases.

In an earlier 2001 case, the Supreme Court has held that educational institutions that fail to curb ragging could lose financial assistance or their affiliation. Though guidelines were laid by the Supreme Court in its order on a petition filed by the Vishwa Jagriti Mission, the court, expressing concern over increasing incidents of ragging, observed that ragging cannot be checked merely by making it a cognisable offence.

Several states have felt the need to reiterate the Supreme Court's order. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat have passed laws or issued circulars banning ragging. These laws and circulars list punishment ranging from disaffiliation and imprisonment to expulsion of guilty students and authorities.

It is obvious, however, that these measures have done little to curb this menace. It is equally clear that as a society we have not given enough thought to this important issue, and because it lacks the sensationalism of other headlines, we tend to let it pass without much comment.
The time has come to declare "zero tolerance" for ragging. One life lost to ragging is one too many, and one young mind permanently disturbed or troubled due to ragging is a collective failure of our society.

From this minute onwards, society as a whole should take a solemn pledge to join as one to root out the menace of ragging from our educational institutions.

By - Jayanthi Natarajan - Jayanthi Natarajan is a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha and AICC spokesperson.

Delhi: Another ragging casualty

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:25:00 +0530

Perhaps the biggest opportunity missed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance coalition government, which has reigned, even if not ruled, in New Delhi for the past five years, was to implement systemic reforms in education. Under septuagenarian Union HRD minister Arjun Singh, who was preoccupied with politicising higher education rather than reforming it in the interest of the world’s largest youth population, Indian education marked time, sliding imperceptibly downwards.
Take for instance the inability of the HRD ministry to stamp out the ragging menace in the country’s 431 universities and 21,000 colleges. The ‘lynching’ to death on March 8 of Aman Kachru (19), a medical undergraduate student of the Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, glaringly indicated the stark reality that ragging is alive on the country’s campuses despite repeated admonitions of the Supreme Court.
“In the absence of stern deterrents, the ragging tradition will persist and college authorities will continue to label ragging deaths as suicides due to academic pressure. Moreover right now thousands of ragging incidents are unreported, because teachers and senior students continue to believe that ragging is a healthy interactive personality development exercise. The media only reports sensational cases and parents and relatives fail to understand the pain of victims,” says Harsh Agarwal, a former ragging victim who runs the Delhi-based CURE (Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education).
Predictably the tragic ragging death of young Aman Kachru in Himachal, which drew poignant electronic media coverage, has evoked a traditional knee-jerk response from the Delhi-based University Grants Commission (UGC), which supervises higher education in India. “The commission has given an ultimatum to educational institutions to either take preventive steps to combat ragging or face funding cuts,” said Harminder Kaur Chauhan, joint director of UGC, to media persons in Chandigarh, adding that a high-powered committee has been formed to curb ragging from the next academic session, and colleges and universities have been told to detail punishments for ragging in their prospectuses.
Likewise in Delhi UGC chairman Dr. S.K. Thorat spoke of convening a conclave of all 17 regulators and monitoring councils — from AICTE to MCI — to formulate tough new anti-ragging regulations. A conclave draft reportedly contains provisions for cancellation and rustication of students indulging in ragging for two to four semesters, and withdrawal of UGC recognition to institutions.
But educationists in the national capital feel that unless all the 50 recommendations of the R.K. Raghavan Committee, appointed by the Supreme Court to suggest ways and means to stampout the ragging menace from institutions, are implemented, this scourge can’t be contained. The Raghavan Committee was appointed in December 2006 by the HRD ministry following a Supreme Court directive, and submitted its report with 50 recommendations to the apex court in May 2007, which accepted them on February 11, 2008. “I am confident that if all the Raghavan Committee recommendations are followed and implemented, the ragging menace can be curbed,” says Dr. Rajendra Prasad, principal of Ramjas College, who served as a member on the Raghavan Committee. “One of the major recomme-ndations overlooked by the Union HRD and home ministries, is to make ragging a punishable crime under the Indian Penal Code, 1860,” he adds.
Meanwhile, shell-shocked by his son’s ragging murder, Prof. Rajender Kachru, currently teaching in the Dar-es-Salaam University in Tanzania, has started an Aman Movement to root out this sadistic ritual from India’s campuses. The prime objective of the Aman Movement is to ensure that educational institutions adopt a “zero tolerance” policy towards ragging and initiate strict action against students found guilty of it.
“Eight years on and two Supreme Court-appointed committees later, the celebrated public interest litigation method of reforming India did not come to the rescue of Aman Satya Kachru. What the Supreme Court process did do, instead, was to make the state governments and HRD ministry lazy. They gave up passing and implementing anti-ragging laws. The few states that did so, as the Raghavan committee shockingly found, have not notified them,” writes activist Shivam Vij on his website, www.stop ragging.org.
And so until the next casualty.
Autar Nehru (Delhi)

Barbaric ragging is common: report

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:09:00 +0530

Forcing freshers into group sex and night-long physical abuse are the most horrendous, but common, forms of ragging in Indian educational institutions, according to a report submitted by the NGO Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE) to the Planning Commission. As government agencies do not have any data on ragging cases in India, the NGO, Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), presented a report on its findings to a group of educationists.
Incidents of gangrape of a first year student in Kerala, a girl being forced into group sex in Bengal and the piercing of the hand of a student in Agartala left Planning Commission members B.L. Mungekar and Sayeeda Hameed flabbergasted. “I cannot imagine such an uncivilised attitude is allowed in our educational institutions,” Mungekar, member education, said after the presentation.
In some medical colleges, students belonging to upper castes abused those who got through under the quota system introduced in the last academic year, the report said.

INDIA: Violent ragging videos a big draw on internet

cure@noragging.com (Ragging News) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:00:00 +0530

The Times of India
Friday, March 20, 2009
By Shreya Roy Chowdhury
New Delhi --- The picture quality is far from perfect but what is happening is clear enough. It is a video of a ragging session in progress. The lower part of the senior's face is covered with a handkerchief. He has his fresher victim -- head covered with a balaclava -- up against the wall and is slapping him around with at least two cameras (one visible in the video) recording the act.
"Chaar ladko ko patak diya sadak pe ," says the senior to scare the boy whose cries cause much hilarity. In between a voice tells the senior to let go the kid; the response is: "Kya chhor doon yaar? Tameez sikhani parti isko yaar." Towards the end, another joins in. The video ends at 5:11 minutes but the violence may not have.
The blurry video is nothing to write home about. But the description is stark: "a first year guy being ragged by senior students." The category is 'Entertainment'. It was posted on a video-sharing site on December 3, 2007 and has been viewed over 14,000 times -- not a great performance, but not bad either.
Online videos of violent ragging are rare but its other forms -- stripping, lipstick smears and duck walks -- are many. One series has about half a dozen clips of freshers being stripped of their shirts. Seniors paw at their faces and limbs while another set, compounding the shame and documenting the proceedings on their mobiles. The clips, filmed without consent, find their way onto the net. As for their victims, temporary embarrassment has been rendered permanent and personal humiliation, public.
"It has spread everywhere. People rag on social networking sites, make MMSes and circulate them. College principals and directors don't even know," says Harsh Agarwal of Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), an anti-ragging online group started in 2001. Agarwal relates the story of a medical-school student who had his social networking account spammed with scraps from seniors. "They would tell him what to post on whose account and when. The language was filthy. The student had to create a fake account and through that he sent me the link," he recalls.
Psychologist Avdesh Sharma says that the new technology helps immortalize the act. Seniors rag because it gives them a sense of being empowered. Recording it allows them to repeat the experience in the absence of further opportunities. "It works like sexual abuse. For some students the scars remain and the only way to get rid of them is to be in a situation where they are able to inflict them. Filming allows them to share their moment of empowerment with others who don't take moral responsibility for the act but continue to watch it," he says.
In May 2007, the Supreme Court directed educational institutions to register criminal cases against those indulging in ragging after accepting a report on the subject by the RK Raghavan committee. Yet ragging has continued.
"Our society accepts all kinds of atrocities including rape. There is no guarantee of protection. The kids come from rich families and know they can get away," says social scientist Shiv Viswanathan. "If a BMW case can take so long to be resolved, how long will a ragging case last?" he continues, "the parents don't protest and students wait for their turn. They beat up some other guy next year and the continuity of sadism is maintained."
An argument made in defence of ragging says that it is the best way to break the ice with seniors. Agarwal disagrees. He suggests that authorities become aware of psychological studies and phenomenon such as the Stanford Prison Experiment or the Miligram Experiment which offer some insight into the psychology of ragging, need to be studied carefully to understand this problem and for an appropriate solution.