On tenth of last month, I woke up to a front-page news in The Times of India that shattered my heart. Aman Kachroo, who had passed out of DPS International, Saket, Delhi, and had joined Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, in Kangra last August, was beaten to death by his seniors. Ragging in colleges and hostels, and even death from ragging was not being reported for the first time, but that this incident should happen in a medical college where only the best and the brightest secure admission and the perpetrators were potential doctors learning to heal, makes Aman’s death more poignant.
Sad, but true, ragging continues because society at large wants it to continue despite legal injunctures. Year after year, precious lives fall prey to ragging, some commit suicide, only a few like Aman are too brutally tortured & murdered, while most are left permanently traumatised, emotionally and psychologically scarred. The extreme cases of ragging are as a result of the perpetrators getting incensed by the protests on the part of the freshers or their refusal to take subjugation lying down. It is as good as vendetta; the psychopathic tendencies raising their ugly heads, as they do in case of sex-offenders in general, who graduate from sexual harassment to gang-rape to lynching. The most important arena of legitimising ragging is the oral passing-on of stories of parents to children, from alumni to students. A practice that teaches one to submit, to be subjugated and humiliated rather than to refuse orders becomes a ritual. It goes by the name of 'hazing' in the U.S., though death on account of hazing is more a rarity. When a student commits suicide, the first response of many is that if hundreds of other students in their same hostel didn't commit suicide, why did this one? The ensuing victim-blaming makes sure ragging survives. The media’s focus on ragging cases rather than the everyday goings-on in hostels also makes sure that the cases are seen as exceptions. The student who drops out, or becomes mentally unstable, or is ostracised by his/her hostel community for complaining are not highlighted. Even the family and peers begin stereotyping them as 'shy' and 'timid'.
As the details kept appearing in the newspapers, and on the new channels on television, I felt like throwing up. Where was the need to sesationalise the events that continued unabated night after night in the name of ragging? Rather, we must immediately start sensitising the youth, even the children, and try to stem out the menace called ragging if we want to take pride in being civil, being human!
Luckily, for the first time, contempt notices are being issued to Principals and the University Grants Commission seems to be waking up from a state of deep slumber. The apathy on the part of the teachers, wardens or even parents cannot continue. We should gauge the significance of the far-reaching consequences of ragging and treat them as criminal offences. We can only hope that the Government will look into the Raghavan Committee’s fifty recommendations and, at the very least, amend the Indian Penal Code to make ragging an offence. The Prevention of the Ragging in Colleges and Institutions Bill, which was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2005 is yet to become a law. The Bill makes the offence of ragging punishable with imprisonment up to three years and a fine of Rs 25,000, and empowers the Government to ban ragging in educational institutions. The civil society is not powerless. Deterrence can play a big role. Exemplary punishment of the guilty will make future perpetrators think twice. But more importantly, there should not be a lack of willingness on our part to do our bit to eradicate ragging!
[Info, pics: courtesy - Google, NDTV 24X7, The Times of India]
