Major Steps When complaint is received are-
What does the UGC say?
As the new millennium unveiled itself, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Supreme Court (SC) came up with strict directive for universities to curb ragging on their respective campuses. In fact, the Advocates Committee recommendations went to the length of suggesting that the financial assistance to institutions who fail to take remedial measures should be stopped or suspended.
Constant reminders were also recommended, which included:
Written undertakings from students at the time of admission and beginning of the academic session everyyear to the effect that they will not instigate or indulge in ragging. Similar undertakings from parents and guardians to the effect they will abide by the punishment to their wards against ragging
Constitution of vigilance committee in every institution against ragging that would include faculty members, wardens and senior students
I-cards to have one-line pledge against ragging, and migration certificates to have records of past offences related to ragging
Sign boards throughout the institution - at hostel entrances, cashier, and administration offices - to display telephone numbers where students can register complaints against ragging
Strict actions
It was also recommended that students found guilty of ragging should be penalized too. Penalties that were proposed included suspension, withdrawing or withholding fellowships and scholarships, withholding or cancelling results, cancellation of admission, expulsion and rustication fine of up to Rs 10,000.
Since then, it has been twelve years. Most major universities in India have been able to curb rampant ragging. Yet, we can still find stray instances of extreme ragging that are fatal at times.
In 2009, the Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) - an anti-ragging NGO - claimed that as manyas nine teenagers lost their lives to ragging every year while hundreds were disabled, injured, or hospitalised due to it. Sexual and physical abuse was found to be quite rampant in colleges and was quite often part of sadistic ragging incidents. Read more about it.
In December that year, the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), another voluntary organisation working against ragging in India, lodged a complaint against ‘3 Idiots' for showing ‘ragging' in a lighter vein, and not as the menace it really is. The study by CURE stated that 88 ragging cases were reported in the year 2008-09, in which twelve students had died and another five had tried to commit suicide.