Additional police force sought for checking ragging in DU

New Delhi, July 13 (UNI) With the new academic session commencing from July 17, the Delhi University has sought deployment of additional police force on the campus to check ragging and anti- social elements.

University officials during a meeting with the police top brass finalised the slew of security arrangements to be put in place.

''We have asked for more police personnel this year and they will be deployed at all strategic locations in North as well as South Campus. We are sure that this year also there will be no major ragging incident,'' Delhi University Proctor Gurmeet Singh told UNI.

''We want to instill confidence among the freshers that nobody will harass them and they should attend the initial phase of the semester,'' he added.

He said 20-point advisory had been dispatched to college Principals and head of departments, laying down the guidelines for security measures.

Cooperation has also been sought from the other law enforcing agencies and the DTC to ensure that freshers are not harassed.

Prof Singh said police personnel in plain clothes will be deployed in buses and outside colleges, particularly near women's colleges.

''Buses are an easy target and anti-social elements also try to take advantage of the situation. Plain-clothed police personnel are very effective in catching the people involved in ragging,'' he added.

The Proctor said additional mobile patrol vans will also be used to intensify vigil in and around the campus.

The University had asked all its 79 colleges to install closed- circuit cameras as a measure to check ragging but some institutes could not meet the huge financial burden.

''This is the first time that we are using technology to crackdown on people involved in ragging, which is a criminal offence.

It will be easy to detect and punish the offenders,'' he said.

Besides these measures, the disciplinary committee of every college will be activated to monitor the situation and take action on any complaint received.

Prof Singh said suggestion and complaint boxes have been placed across the university.

''Our endeavour is to provide safe and conducive atmosphere for students and we are confident that we will achieve it,'' he added.

Last year the University claimed that not even a single case of ragging had been reported and there was a significant fall in the incidents of ragging during the past three years.

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