Colleges gear up to stop ragging

Colleges gear up to stop ragging

Panjab University has already suspended six students for ragging their juniors

Khushboo Sandhu

Chandigarh, August 11: The new session of Panjab University (PU) and other colleges has just started and there is an air of excitement one can feel on the campus. However, there is also a slight nervousness among the freshers about the ‘reception’ that would be given to them by their seniors.

The recent incident of suicide by a first year student of Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector 32, allegedly due to ragging by his seniors, has made the authorities in other institutes stand up and take notice.

With the Supreme Court giving stringent guidelines against ragging, the institutes have become strict with action taken against those found ragging.

Panjab University has already suspended six students in the last few days after complaints were received against the students. While five students of University Institute of Engineering and Technology were expelled from the hostel and the department on July 26, one student of Department of Chemical Engineering was suspended on Friday for a week and slapped a fine of Rs 1,000 for ragging their juniors.

Dean Student Welfare (DSW) Prof Naval Kishore says, “We have a Central Monitoring Committee and five sub-committees. Teachers take constant rounds of the campus. The wardens also stay in the hostels till 11 pm.”

He adds, “The Supreme Court guidelines make it clear that if the complainant is not satisfied with the action taken by the authorities, then an FIR can also be lodged.” Besides, posters with phone numbers of the wardens have been pasted on the notice boards in the hostels.

Similarly, at Punjab Engineering College (PEC), DSW Dr K K Garg says, “We have put up posters in all hostels which state that ragging is banned and those found indulging in the same would be punished under the Supreme Court guidelines.”

“The seniors at our college in fact welcome their juniors. They hold a four-day long orientation programme and then the juniors organise a function to thank the seniors,” says Dr Garg.

The city colleges are also geared up to deal with incidents of ragging. Anti-ragging committees have been constituted in almost all city colleges.

Principal of Government College, Sector 46, B S Saluja says young teachers have been made part of the anti-ragging committee. “The teachers took rounds of the college and for many days the students could not recognise them. They took them to be their seniors. And no untoward incident has been reported till now,” says Saluja.

Promila Bhardwaj, principal of Government College for Girls, Sector 11, says the college has been divided into zones and teachers take rounds of the college from time to time. “The wardens have also been asked to be extra cautious. However, once the initial euphoria is checked, there will be no incidents,” she says.

Some city colleges have also started the session for the first year students well before their seniors join back. This gives time for the students to acclimatise with the surroundings.

But even with these measures, certain incidents of ragging have come to light. Introductions late at night continue in some hostels.


link to report : http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=250543