[Greater Kashmir] Stop ragging or we’ll commit suicide: IAMS students

MIR FAHEEM ASLAM

Srinagar, Nov 22: Scores of students of the Institute of Asian Medical Sciences (IAMS) at Zakura on Thursday threatened to commit suicide if the college authorities don’t rein in the senior students who are ragging the freshers in the college.

The new comers in the college, who have joined the college nearly a month back to pursue a Bachelors degree in Unani Medicine (BUMS) said the final year students of the college have been “ruthlessly ragging” them for the past one month.

The college authorities, they added, have miserably failed to curb the ragging menace in the college. “We are not against interacting with our seniors. We respect them, but they are resorting to hooliganism and the college administration is watching all this haplessly,” the students, wishing anonymity, told Greater Kashmir.

The seniors, they said, are asking boys to “remove and tighten their pants” in front of girls.

“They (seniors) are asking us to perform immoral acts that we can’t explain,” the students said. “We’re humiliated and nobody is coming to our rescue.”

The college authorities, they said, are not paying heed to their grievances, forcing them to seek help of the media persons in curbing the problem. “We’ll commit suicide if this ragging continues,” said a visibly perturbed student, who approached GK with her mother.

“We’ll quit the college if the college authorities do not initiate disciplinary action against the seniors who have unleashed a reign of terror in the college and are harassing the girls unnecessarily.”

The seniors, they added, have asked them to follow “their guidelines” that they have pasted on certain walls of the college building. The guidelines go like this: “Juniors must know that BUMS seniors are never wrong; if any junior creates indiscipline, he or she will move 3-4 steps backwards and then wish the seniors; if any student complains before the college authorities of ragging, they will be rudely ragged; all juniors will call senior boys as sir and senior girls as madam; and finally no students will use his or her cell before any senior.”

“If any student commits suicide, the college authorities will be responsible for it,” they said, adding, they will request the university authorities to derecognize the college if the ragging continues.

“The university authorities must take a strong note of what’s happening in the college,” they said. When Greater Kashmir apprised the Station House Officer (SHO) Zakura about the problem, he promised action. “I haven’t received any written complaint in this regard. The moment I get receive a complaint in this regard, I assure you that we’ll take action against the culprits,” the SHO, Raja Tasleem said.

When contacted, the college principal Dr Khurseed Ahmad Bakshi said that he has constituted special teams to monitor ragging. “If the students will identify the persons resorting to ragging we will certainly take action against them,” Bakshi told Greater Kashmir. “We can’t tolerate ragging in the college.”

[ToI] Engg student kills self, family blames ragging

17 Oct 2007, 0106 hrs IST,Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui,TNN

LUCKNOW: A first-year student of a polytechnic in Pratapgarh died of alleged poisoning early Tuesday, a few days after he told his parents about a ragging ordeal he faced at the hands of senior students. The family of Amit Tiwari, 22, who was studying mechanical engineering at the Government Polytechnic, filed a complaint with the police saying he had been killed by his seniors for going to the authorities against ragging.

Police said Amit was admitted to the civil hospital in Pratapgarh on Monday evening after he complained of vomiting and stomach pain. He was then taken to the Swaroop Rani hospital in Allahabad when his condition deteriorated, but died before being admitted there at around 2 am.

Amit's brother Arun told TOI that during his visit to his family in Unnao on October 10, Amit told him that he was being ragged by his seniors. "He said the juniors were made to strip in front of others and were beaten up when they resisted," Arun said. Polytechnic officials, however, denied that the death was linked to ragging.

Link to Report

[ToI] Student ragged, stripped in Bhopal hostel

8 Oct 2007, 0235 hrs IST,TNN


BHOPAL: A shocking incident of ragging, coupled with an attempt at sexual assault, has been reported to the Madhya Pradesh police just two days after two first-year girl students of the Institute of Hotel Management in Bhopal were hospitalised following an alleged ragging session.

Engineering student Vishal Sharma has charged that his seniors beat him up, tonsured his head and shaved off his moustache on Friday night. They also apparently forced him to consume liquor with them, and made him dance for hours after stripping him - shockingly, they also tried to sexually assault him, according to the case filed.

Police registered a case of physical assault and hurt against the two senior who were involved in the act after the boy's father filed a complaint. One of the accused, Neeraj Kumar, was arrested on Sunday evening. Director of the institute Naeem Khan said eight senior students have been suspended.

The victim, a 19-year-old freshman of BE (Information Technology) at the Sree Institute of Science and Technology, is from Shivpuri district. He is the son of Congress leader in Gwalior-Chambal division Mahendra Sharma. Vishal, whose first semester started just 25 days ago, was staying at the reputed Utkarsh Students' Hostel in Lal Ghati area.

The hostel accommodates around 100 boys - 60 freshmen of the same engineering college, 20 seniors and 20 from other engineering colleges in Bhopal.

"From the beginning, they used to abuse and beat me up for no reason. When I told my father, he said it wouldn't last long. They would drink and force freshers to join them. But on Friday night, their torture crossed all limits," Vishal said.

Vishal said it was not just him but many other freshers too who were subjected to similar treatment. However, some students don't protest because their parents had spent a lot of money for their admission and they could not back out because of the ragging, he said.

Vishal added that two of his seniors - Kunal Chaudhary and Neeraj Kumar - had called him to their room on Saturday morning around 1 am. Traumatised Vishal now doesn’t want to go back to the same college and says he will not stay in a hostel again.

Link to Report

[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.

Link to Report

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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.

[The Telegraph] Students allege mass ragging

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Behrampore, Sept. 14: Fourteen first-year students, who had had enough of stripping in front of seniors, doing sit-ups and touching their feet, have filed a police complaint against them.
Police raided the Kandi Raj College hostel for eight second and three third year-students last night. They were missing.

“Every night, we were asked to do sit-ups at least a hundred times and touch their feet. We were forced to dance in our underwear. If we disobeyed them, they beat us up with sticks and made us write indecent things about our families,” a first-year student said.

The hostel with 60 students does not have a full-time su- perintendent. Indrajit Das, a non-teaching employee, is in charge. He declined comment.

The college tried to play down the charge. “They were hurt by the seniors’ jokes. It was not ragging,” principal Rashbehari Sinha said.

Link to Report