Anti-Ragging Laws in India

Ragging is the term used for the so-called “initiation ritual” practiced in higher education institutions in South Asian countries, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The practice is similar to hazing in North America, bizutage in France, and praxe in Portugal, and other similar practices in educational institutions across the world. Ragging involves the abuse, humiliation, or harassment of new entrants or junior students by their seniors.

Although the objective of this exercise was initially to increase friendship among batch mates, it has become increasingly unpopular due to several complaints of physical injury to the victims and the resulting trauma. Ragging has taken a malignant form wherein the newcomers may be subjected to psychological or physical torture. In recent years, ragging in India has commonly involved serious abuses and clear violations of human rights. A report from 2007 highlighted 42 instances of severe physical injury, and reports on dozens of deaths purportedly as a result of ragging. In the last few years, approximately 30+ ragging deaths have been reported. In addition, a number of freshers were severely traumatized to the extent that they were admitted to mental institutions.

Ragging is now defined as an act of physical or mental abuse (including bullying and exclusion) targeted at another student (fresher or otherwise) on the grounds of color, race, religion, caste, ethnicity, gender (including transgender), sexual orientation, appearance, nationality, regional origins, linguistic identity, place of birth, place of residence, or economic background.

With the situation of ragging becoming widely and dangerously prevalent in engineering and other institutions, mainly in the hostels, the Anti-Ragging Movement emerged in India. Several voluntary organizations have been formed to conduct public awareness and arrange support for victims. Online groups like Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE) and the No Ragging Foundation became major anti-ragging groups on the internet. The No Ragging Foundation subsequently transformed into an NGO registered as the Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE), which is India’s first registered anti-ragging non-profit organization.

A high-level committee that probed the death of Aman Kachroo in 2009 revealed that alcohol was the main reason leading to serious forms of ragging and violence on campus. In the wake of Aman Kachroo’s death, the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India imposed regulations upon Indian universities to help curb ragging. These regulations were passed as the “UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009″. The regulation talks about the measures for the prevention of ragging at the institutional level. It lays down the steps an institution has to follow during the admission and registration process, including strict measures like lodging freshers in a separate hostel, conducting surprise raids especially at night by an anti-ragging squad, and requiring the submission of affidavits by all senior students and their parents taking an oath not to indulge in ragging. Subsequently, the UGC has made a few amendments to the regulations; as per these, it is no longer required to get the verification of the affidavit done by an Oath Commissioner.

To assist students, a National Anti-Ragging Helpline was launched. It helps victims and takes action in cases of ragging by informing the Head of the Institution and the local police authorities of the complaint. The main feature of the helpline is that complaints can be registered even without disclosing the name of the victim, through email at helpline@antiragging.in or through a toll-free phone number at 1800-180-5522. The media has also played a crucial role by exposing ragging incidents and the indifference of many concerned institutions towards curbing the act. Furthermore, the Supreme Court of India has directed in a landmark judgment that strict action must be taken against negligent institutions.

There are specific provisions in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which can be used by a student to register an FIR in the nearest police station against perpetrators. These provisions include:

A list of states that have enacted their own specific legislation on ragging includes: Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Goa, and Jammu and Kashmir. For states which do not have their own state-level legislation, ragging laws are enforced in accordance with the central legislations and UGC guidelines.