SC gets tough with ragging

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) The Supreme Court today came down heavily on educational institutions where ragging of freshers is still going on and directed that every educational institution shall register a compulsory FIR with the police in every case of ragging.

It further said that any failure or delay in doing so would be construed as culpable negligence on the part of the institution concerned.

A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia, acting on the recommendations of R K Raghavan Committee report, also directed the colleges to include a clause in their prospectus that students found indulging in ragging, shall be denied admission and seniors shall be expelled.

The court also made it clear that failure to prevent or check ragging may lead to denial of grant of aid from the goverment. It also made it clear that FIR by parents shall not absolve the institution of its responsibility and also directed the courts in the country to take up the cases related to ragging on priority basis.

The court also directed the universities and colleges to introduce anti-ragging awareness programmes in their curriculum. It also said that Raghavan Committee will monitor the progress made in the implementaion of the directions of this court.

In recent time, the menace of ragging has assumed alarming proportion leading to mental and physical torture of freshers and in some cases, leading to suicide by the victim. Alarmed by the trend the Supreme Court had appointed R K Raghavan Committee to suggest measures to check the growing menace which is also encouraged by the cavalier attitude of the college authorities towards the increasing incidents of ragging of freshers.

Raghavan, a former CBI director had submitted his report last week in a sealed cover to the court.

UNI