In the eyes of the law, ragging is as grave an offence as rape
"They might have faced the same when they were juniors, which is why they did that to us."
These were the lamentations of a 17-year-old who was hospitalised in Kochi after an alleged incident of ragging at his college in Kerala's Kottayam.
"There was blood in his urine for five days," his mother said.
The boy did not tell his parents or the doctors that he was subjected to physical torture at his hostel. It was only when doctors insisted, the cause of injury has to be a result of "brutality" inflicted by someone, that he revealed the horror he and eight other students went through on December 2.
Another student was admitted to a hospital in Trissur with his kidney damaged, undergoing dialysis every day.
I asked him why he did he not tell anyone or complained about his seniors.
This is what he said: "We were scared. We thought if we tell our parents, they would go and ask the college authorities. And if those people (seniors) come to know of it... what if they do something to us? The hostel is under their control. Nobody questions them."
The boy wasn't fine with what had happened but he gave a sense that seniors ragging juniors was "normal" and happened every year, like a "tradition".
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| As many as 21 senior MBBS students of the Manjeri Medical College in Malappuram, Kerala have been suspended after being accused of ragging the first year students. (Source: PTI) |
On December 13, a first-year engineering student in Kochi attempted suicide after alleged ragging. In a Facebook post, he called his seniors "animals who ruined his life" — anyone who has been a victim of ragging would agree with.
In May this year, in a nursing college in Karnataka, a Keralite student was force-fed toilet cleaner allegedly by her seniors. She was admitted to a hospital in Kozhikode with her internal organs damaged, scarred for life, physically and mentally.
When I joined college, it was clear that ragging was not allowed on campus or in the hostel. But what exactly was ragging?
I am not sure if I knew the answer. I was only 15 or 16 when I joined college (Class 11) after school. It was only a couple of years later that I realised may be I too faced ragging, albeit in its mildest form.
But who decides the threshold? The effects are more or less similar. It not just shatters your confidence but have also forced students to kill themselves on many ocassions.
You may have been told things that would make you feel that you are not good enough for the rest of your life.
Kochi-based psychiatrist C J John says, "There is this acceptance of sorts that some amount of ragging is acceptable. That's why the excesses are prevalent."
Even making practical jokes, forcing freshers sing and dance are all ragging. "There is also a myth that ragging helps build the student's mental strength. It's absurd. Humiliating and hurting are not ways to groom someone," he says.
Although the perpetrators are mostly adults (aged above 18), both the victims and the perpetrators belong to the same category — students.
"The perpetrators were once victims and the victims may turn out to be perpetrators too. So there is a need to address both groups," he adds.
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has laid out clear regulations to curb the menace of ragging in higher education institutions. But how many colleges follow them has been nobody's concern.
Twenty one students were today suspended from a medical college in Malappuram after 40 others complained to the principal of ragging. An internal inquiry report was prepared and the same would be discussed by an anti-ragging committee to find if the allegations are true and take further course of action. These steps are along the lines of how things should work in an institution as instructed by the UGC.
But the 17-year-old didn't know there was an anti-ragging helpline or authorities he could reach out to even outside his college.
"We were told there is no ragging in college when we joined. That's all," he said.
So, this ragging which took place in a hostel (technically outside campus) can be justified? No. Ragging is an offence in all college premises, including residential, sports and canteen.
The UGC has also instructed institutions to consider ragging as a cognisable offence under the law on a par with rape and other atrocities against women and ill-treatment to persons belonging to SC/ST.
Ragging is any conduct whether by words spoken or written, or by an act which has the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any other student, indulging in rowdy or undisciplined activities which causes or is likely to cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in a fresher or a junior student.
Ragging is also asking students to do any act or perform something which they will not do in ordinary course. And that which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so as to adversely affect the physique or psyche of a fresher or a junior student.
And remember, ragging is certainly not a tradition to be upheld.