[IBN Live ] St Stephens students suspended for 'ragging'

New Delhi: In what appears to be a shocking incident of ragging at the prestigious St Stephens college, four students suspended after they allegedly sprayed a first year student with cologne and threw a matchstick on him.



The student, hailing from Kolkata, has reportedly gone back to his parents.
However, the principal of St. Stephens college Valson Thampu insisted that it was a minor matter appropriately taken care of.



“This was a very minor incident that happened in the residence of the college on the night of September 27. The matter was handled efficiently. It was treated as a closed chapter. Neither the person affected by it nor his parents have any complaints now. The matter should rest,” he said.

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Link to CNN - IBN Help for Ragging Victims

[The Telegraph] Ragging stick for five sparks furore in JU

A STAFF REPORTER

Calcutta, Oct. 3: Jadavpur University erupted in rage this evening after authorities decided to punish five students for ragging a junior.

An army of students from the engineering and science faculties staged demonstrations and gheraoed officials for several hours in protest against the decision of the executive council.

“Our friends have been falsely implicated…. We haven’t heard of any complaint of ragging. Our question is how could the authorities take a decision like this when there are doubts over the complaint?” asked Surajit Bhakta, a leader of the engineering and technology students’ union.

Two of the accused — Chittaranjan Burma and Milton Baidya of the civil and mechanical engineering departments, respectively — have been suspended for the coming semester scheduled to begin from January 2008. They will not be able to attend classes or appear in the semester examination. The duo have been rusticated from the hostel along with co-accused Srimanta Kumar Khanra of the mathematics department.

Kaji Imam Alam of the chemical engineering department and electronic engineering student Nilanjan Biswas have been suspended from the hostel for a year.

The executive council, the university’s highest policy-making body, decided to punish the boys on the basis of a recommendation of the institution’s anti-ragging committee. A first-year student had lodged a complaint with the authorities in the third week of August, alleging that he had been subjected to ragging.

The complaint was forwarded to the anti-ragging committee, which held a month-long inquiry and found the five students guilty.

It suggested three categories of punishment for the boys, depending on the gravity of their offence.

Following a Supreme Court order banning ragging in all educational institutions, the University Grants Commission had made it compulsory for all universities to set up panels to check ragging and bring offenders to book.

“The anti-ragging committee has thoroughly probed the complaint and suggested penal measures against the five boys. After examining the committee’s findings, the executive council has unanimously accepted its suggestions,” said Parthapratim Biswas, a member of the council.
After news of the punishments reached the university’s hostels and classrooms around 5pm, students gathered outside the conference hall where a council meeting was on. They demanded that the authorities withdraw their decision.

The meeting ended around 7, but the protesters did not allow the members to leave the hall till late at night.

“The anti-ragging committee did not conduct the inquiry in a democratic manner. We don’t believe the five students are guilty. We will continue our agitation till the authorities withdraw the suspension orders,” said Bhakta.

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Comment from the No Ragging Foundation

The No Ragging Foundation fully supports the University, though we feel that the Punishment awarded should have been much more stringent.

We expect that the agitating students ( the gherao has been withdrawn) will try to understand and co-operate with the authorities to ensure that the guilty are punished.

[DailyMirror] Strictly implement anti-ragging laws says Minister

Strictly implement anti-ragging laws says Minister
Instructions to all Vice-Chancellors

The higher education minister said yesterday the government has instructed Vice- Chancellors of all universities to strictly implement the anti-ragging laws with immediate effect.

Rejecting allegations that the government is going to annul the Anti-ragging Act, Higher Education Minister Prof. Vishwa Warnapala said “I have instructed university authorities to strictly implement the exciting law.”

He said that the law is not implemented and the academic staff should take necessary steps to implement the law in full. “The academic staff has to play a key role in preventing ragging,” the minister said.

He also said that earlier, the ragging season only lasted for a week or two, but currently it lasts at least a year. “We have to change this culture, we need intellectuals from universities,” he added.

With reference to posters and other protest campaigns urging the government to annul the Act, the minister said that the government would not take action to annul the act. “It was put forward by the then Education Minister Richard Pathirana in 1997, and it was approved by Parliament unanimously, so it is an agreement reached by all political parties, we don’t want to annul it,” the minister said.
He said that some interested sections among students are trying to make an issue over this as these sections backed by some political parties are trying to sabotage the students’ education.

He also said that the government is also to consider widening the higher education system of the country and said that there are no plans to privatize the university system.
“We are going to introduce ‘distance mode’ education, in which anyone can obtain a degree through distance learning, which is a world recognized system,” the minister said.
Prof. Warnapala said under the new programme, the government is going to widen the post-graduate system as well.

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Ragging is never fun [The Hindu]

The Supreme Court orders on ragging should not only curb the practice but also generate awareness. AKHILA SIVADAS

Photo: R.V. Moorthy

HEALTHY EQUATIONS: Motivate students to discover other ways of welcoming new entrants.

COME June and all of us get into the annual ritual of celebrating exam results, checking out new courses, rating universities, getting involved as a family and community in the “rites of passage” from school to college and debating endles sly the many ethical and material concerns that this process throws up. This year would have been no different but for the slew of directives that the apex court has issued to check ragging on campuses across the country.

On May 16, the Supreme Court declared that ragging and any form of abetment to ragging, causing injury or subjecting anyone to forceful confinement, physical and sexual assault, would now be treated as a criminal offence. And as in the case of Section 498 A, dealing with cruelty towards women, since the burden of proof would be on the accused rather than the victims of ragging, the court has empowered victims and their families to get the FIR registered.

Issue and its ramifications

The question that needs to be asked is whether all the stakeholders — students, parents and guardians, faculty and administrators — understand the full implications of the law and are ready to confront the issue with all its ramifications.

Dr. Kavita Sharma, Principal of a leading college in Delhi University, stated that while they have been consistently addressing the ragging issue over the last few years and even evolved a graded response to the problem — from fining students to taking extreme steps of easing them out of the hostel to even rusticating some — the challenge today is to go beyond managing and arbitrating on the issue and get on with the business of legally enforcing the ban on ragging. With the Supreme Court determined to crack down on it, she was clear that “it is not the form of ragging” but how the fresher perceives the ordeal that would determine the issue.

“We have been telling students that there is no distinction between harmless or normal ragging where you get the juniors to sing and dance versus ragging that takes on more a virulent form. At the end of the day, even mild forms of ragging could prove to be hard on some young people and could lead to a demand for legal redress,” she added.

Therefore, the major challenge before the academic community, she emphasised, is not only to make sure that the “law acts as a deterrent and prevents all excesses but also motivates the students to search for alternatives, discover other ways of welcoming the new entrants, bring freshers into the college mainstream and establish a more healthy equation with them.”
In fact, for a majority of students who are day scholars, much of the ragging was “harmless interaction where juniors get introduced to the seniors and the latter in turn discovered the talents of the juniors,” said Samil Ahmed from Jamia Millia University, New Delhi.

Photo: K.R. Deepak

Law as deterrent: Create an awareness about the penalties.

In some instances, students agree that the seniors even “pulled their leg” and sent them scurrying to a classroom in the opposite direction. But even while defending the practice of “healthy ragging”, Nida (a first-year student from Jamia Millia) felt that there is a thin line of distinction between such healthy ragging and the not-so-healthy forms. For students the first few days are “days of terror” and the court order will come as a relief to many. “At least this year the freshers will feel relaxed and know what to do if faced with an unbearable situation,” she added.

Clearly, the crux of the problem lies in the selective engagement with the issue. One such convenient spin is that the court is not in any way questioning the convention or tradition of ragging. What it is seeking to do is to prevent the excesses and distortions that have over the years crept into the body politic of the campus and is particularly vicious in the professional colleges and more so in the many new-found campuses, where money and muscle power have combined to create an altogether new culture of acquiring knowledge.

Undoubtedly, there has been some clinching as well as disturbing evidence on how vicious the whole problem has become. Those who have been through the most harrowing experiences have not only spoken up but also decided to take on the menace headlong and not rest till the heinous practice is appropriately dealt with and weeded out altogether.

Yet, anti-ragging advocates like Shivam Vij, editor of the website stopragging, have consistently maintained that there is nothing like “mild ragging” and that criminalisation is inherent in the whole process and that what we are witnessing today is nothing short of gross human rights violation. People like him have no patience with those who take a “politically correct” position on ragging and “despite all the horror stories… lecture on how good ragging can be,” or about how one needs to distinguish between the many ice-breakers that seniors use to draw the freshers out of their shell and make them “bold and get exposed to the world” and the exceptional instances when they “cross the limit and inflict the worst kind of brutalities”.

Many such independent groups have collaborated with the Raghavan Committee, set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, to find ways to curb the practice of ragging in schools and colleges.

Anguish and trauma

It does not take too much to understand where this anguish and the “enough-is-enough” position stem from. Sharing her experience, one parent observed that three years ago, when she found her son traumatised by the ragging, she decided to shift him to another college and get him to move on with his life, she realised that she was fortunate in being able to “act decisively and nip the issue in its bud.” At that point of time, when she considered the possibility of seeking redress, she was discouraged by the fear of reprisal.

So while welcoming the court directives on the grounds that it will definitely discourage ragging, she wonders whether, if the option to register an FIR had been available to her three years ago, she would have exercised it or not. One gets the feeling that not everyone feels confident of seeking police intervention. With most campuses anxious to maintain their autonomy and prevent undue intrusion by the police, this may discourage victims of ragging and their families to seek legal redress.

Most stakeholders agree that a strong legal response was inevitable and the recent developments warranted it. Even while many constructive methods were devised to check the practice, there is a feeling that these measures only succeeded in driving the practice underground, or more precisely behind closed doors. Many victims have reported how a façade of self-regulation has been maintained to keep administrators happy and reassure them that the situation was under control. In fact, one fall-out has been hardening of such malpractices and the court, by empowering the victim, is trying to nail this persistent offender and perpetrator.

So the unanimous opinion is that the pendulum has swung in favour of the much-needed legal deterrents and the university authorities are wasting no time in swinging into action. The University Grants Commission has issued instructions to all universities to implement the court orders in the strictest possible manner. The Secretary of the UGC, T.R. Kenn, has been quoted in the media as calling on all universities “to implement the directives of the Supreme Court in letter and spirit.”

Gearing up

Meanwhile, the authorities across colleges, universities and professional institutions such as IITs, are gearing up to implement the court’s orders. According to Rajendra Singh, Registrar, IIT, Delhi, they “are taking every possible step to implement the court’s directives in toto.” This involves setting up a common mechanism across the IITs to enforce the law and monitor the situation, provide students with mobile numbers of all faculty members associated with the anti-ragging panel and strengthen students’ access to services such as helplines.

Speaking about the measures taken by the colleges affiliated to Delhi University, Dr. Kavita Sharma said that “apart from incorporating the court’s orders in the prospectus and ensuring that they are prominently displayed in different parts of the colleges, we are also orienting the students on the issue and their responsibilities and obligations and strengthening the self-regulation processes that the college has developed over the years.”

Clearly the challenge is twofold: First to deal with the many horrific incidents of the past; to collectively introspect, reflect and face the issue squarely and address the bitterness and sense of estrangement that it has generated among people who have experienced it at close quarters. Second, to ensure that under the fear of the law the authorities do not respond in a knee-jerk fashion and quite unintentionally contribute to the miscarriage of justice.

Some unsuspecting young people should not get caught in the crossfire, used to either to settle scores or get victimised by peremptory legal processes. Enough checks have to be created to ensure that we make a new beginning and use the law to not only curb the practice but to generate public awareness on the issue and have an informed engagement with it.

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Orissa (Newindpress Chennai news)- Shiv Shankar case

OHRC takes up Shiv Shankar case
Sunday June 10 2007 12:23 IST

SAMBALPUR: Orissa Human Rights Commission OHRC) has admitted the petition filed by Satyajit Ash.His son Shiv Shankar Ash was thrown off the terrace during ragging by seniors at OUAT, Bhubaneswar resulting in serious spinal and fracture injuries. He is still confined to bed.In its order, the OHRC said it is satisfied with the statements made in the petition and found it a case fit for preliminary inquiry. The Commission has also sought reports from the Principal, OUAT, Bhubaneswar and Khurda SP within four weeks. The order mentions that the case will be taken on receipt of reports from the two authorities or on expiry of four weeks whichever is earlier. Shiv Shankar underwent surgery at Sagar Apollo Hospital, Bangalore.

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Hazing, cyber-bullying tageted by Eugene school board [KMTR.com]

Last Update: Jun 7, 2007 9:57 AM

Eugene (KMTR) - The Eugene 4J school district is cracking down on new methods used by school bullies. They have added "hazing" and "cyber bullying" to the list of punishable offenses.

The board added those offenses to their harassment policy after hearing about hazing incidents between seniors and freshman on high school sports teams.
Dennis Biggerstaff, Churchill High School’s principal, says there have actually been fewer incidents over the past few years, but he thinks the anti-bullying message should still be clear to kids now and in the future.

"Whether it's text messaging, email, MySpace, YouTube, there's all kinds of ways for them to communicate. And sometimes we see interactions between kids that are harmful and not really appropriate," says Biggerstaff.

If a bullying incident affects a student's ability to learn while on campus, such exchanges that happen off campus will now be punishable as well.

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UCF Fraternity Suspended Until 2011 [13 Central Florida News]

Monday, June 04, 2007 4:23:39 PM

A fraternity at the University of Central Florida faces a longer suspension after the university says it violated the terms of it's original suspension.

Pi Kappa Phi was suspended for a year in 2006 after hazing allegations. However, the national director of the Pi Kappa Phi said some students took part in a fraternity event while on suspension.

The UCF Office of Student Conduct extended Pi Kappa Phi's suspension from the university until 2011.

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3 Found Guilty In School Hazing [courant.com]

Students Brutalized At Home For Gifted
June 6, 2007
By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY, Courant Staff Writer

MANCHESTER -- Three teenagers accused of brutalizing underclassmen last fall at a Glastonbury home for gifted minority boys accepted a plea agreement Tuesday that will put them in prison for at least nine months.

Jeff Utobor, Silvester Baez and Pedro Reyes each pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree assault before Judge Raymond Norko in Superior Court in Manchester. No contest means they will not fight the charges, although they don't admit guilt.

At the time of the assaults, the three teenagers from outside the state lived at a home in Glastonbury and attended the local high school through a program called A Better Chance. They were among four upperclassmen accused of abusing three freshmen in the home.

The victims were ordered to do push-ups and to fight each other, police said. The freshmen were slapped, punched, kicked and hit with pingpong paddles, according to an arrest warrant.

On Tuesday, Utobor, Baez and Reyes, neatly dressed with their mothers at their sides, accepted the state's offer of five years in prison, suspended after nine months, followed by five years of probation. Norko may sentence them to up to 24 months active prison time.

Utobor's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 16. Baez's is scheduled for Aug. 23 and Reyes' for Aug. 28.

A fourth teen, Christopher Lewis, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in March and was given probation. His charges were less serious than those of Utobor, Baez and Reyes. Baez, for example, was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault, cruelty to persons and disorderly conduct.

The teenagers are 16 or 17 and are from New York City or Massachusetts. They were participants in A Better Chance, a 32-year-old program that accepts out-of-state boys from cities and offers them a Glastonbury education in hopes they will benefit from career opportunities they otherwise would not have had. Graduates have gone on to careers as doctors, lawyers and engineers, among other things. There are other ABC programs in the state and nation.

The upperclassmen repeatedly abused the three freshmen, the arrest warrant says.

On Sept. 28, one boy was slammed onto a table, ordered to fix it and slammed on it a second time. He yelled for God to help him while being beaten, the warrant says.

Earlier that month, on Sept. 13, the same boy was given a choice between a beating or having a pen stuck in his anus. He later told police that he couldn't take another beating, so he chose the pen.

"Mr. Baez and Mr. Reyes held him down while Mr. Utobor inserted the pen, your Honor," Assistant State's Attorney Lisa Herskowitz told Norko.

Jonathan Russell, president of ABC's board of directors, said in a telephone interview: "It caught us totally by surprise that the boys were doing this. So we're much more wary now.

ABC residents have always been told not to participate in hazing, drinking and doing drugs, he said.Russell said the program, which has a capacity for eight students, currently has two participants.

Gerard Sims, the resident director, is stepping down from that position, although ABC is hoping he'll stay on as a tutor, Russell said. He said the departure doesn't appear to be a result of what happened; it's unusual for people in those positions to stay for more than a few years.

Russell said ABC is doing "everything in our power to ensure that it doesn't happen again." He said he couldn't go into details because the three teens aren't sentenced yet, he wants to respect the privacy rights of minors and the organization faces the possibility of being sued.

"It was a terrible incident," he said. "We're in a rebuilding mode from that. It's going to take a long time."

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UPDATE: Four Coopersville baseball players

Posted by Chronicle News Service June 04, 2007 22:05PM

COOPERSVILLE -- Four junior varsity baseball players were expelled by the Coopersville school board tonight after a district investigation found they were involved in hazing incidents that included putting their bare rear ends in the face of victims and other "sexual harassment."
Three other students who also were involved in the incidents were handed lesser penalties tonight by the board.

Dating back to April, about 13 incidents were perpetrated by one or more of the four students who were expelled, district officials determined. They hazed and sexually assaulted other members of the team, and on one occasion a member of the freshmen baseball team, district officials found.

A separate criminal investigation by the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department continues.
A school district report, released today, outlines details of the hazing, including restraining students by holding down arms and legs, slapping victims' stomachs to cause the skin to turn pink, applying pressure to the victim's rectal area through their clothes using thumbs or fingers -- on one occasion, a toothbrush was used to apply pressure -- pulling down (perpetrators') pants and putting their rear ends in the face of victims, and using their hands in the victim's genital areas.

For the complete story, return to Mlive.com on Tuesday or pick up a copy of Tuesday's Muskegon Chronicle.

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