Chilligavva

…on September 17 when some senior students stripped him and urinated on him in the name of ragging. He lodged a complaint with the college, and next day the seniors were suspended for three weeks. The parents of the victim and the seniors met at the college, apologies were made and a compromise was arrived at. The suspension was lifted on October 6.

Two days later the seniors beset Sanjay again for complaining against them; this time it got violent, he was cut all over with a blade and, he charged in a police complaint, sexually assaulted.

via rediff.com

Reading the above article, a few things struck me as very significant. 

Crime reduced to a hazing incident initially
Its very pathetic that absolute crime is categorized as the usual ragging [hazing] incident. People only paid attention when the victim was traumatized again and visible blade marks on the skin was what brought attention to the victim.

Ragging is a traditional and accepted method of getting to know juniors in an informal way, within the walls of an education institution. This is a method that I have yet to see eye to eye with as i do not construe this as either effective or friendly. My take is that people with a sadistic bent of mind enjoy ragging others.   I have seen friendly teasing go out of hand several times.  How can ragging not go out of hand?

The usual “we are working on it, and unnecessarily blown out of hand” approach from the institute
I am actually glad that Sanjay’s father is at least listening.  Most such incidents stem from a power nexus.  The institute’s eagerness to not have any ‘incident’, moneyed people who pay to keep their ill bred kids in the system, and police who hesitate to pursue action because of ‘big people’ being involved.  The victim would have been a statistic, but for the fact that a news portal is now involved.  I am sure that for every Sanjay in the news, there are atleast 100 others in India and elsewhere, who never get any justice.

Greedy Parents who are blind to their children’s trauma
As long as parents in India refuse to recognize that there is life beyond engineering, medicine and American software jobs, we will only generate victims who are told to ‘adjust’ and not let down the hopes of their parents and family etc. and not to ruin chances for a better future.  What future?  I think for a person this is a serious life altering event, and no child of sixteen should undergo this. 

Poor category of laws in India

I suggest that ragging be treated as a punishable offense and strong laws be implemented.  And an institution should be black listed including loss of accreditation, if there are more than 5 complaints against it.  Obviously institutes would try to hush things up, but if there is some fear of punishment, they should be able to crack down such behaviour, and not let anti social elements pose as ’students’ !

If this is how the stronger sex is treated, i shudder to think what girls have to go through?

If you are so inclined, read about ragging in India.

Origin Of Ragging
Today, ragging may have become deep rooted in the Indian educational set up, but many would be surprised to know that ragging is originally a western concept. Ragging is supposed to have its creation in certain European Universities where seniors played practical jokes at the time of welcoming freshmen to the institutions. Gradually, the practice of ragging became popular throughout the world. However, with time, ragging assumed obnoxious and harmful connotations and was severely condemned. Today, almost all countries of the world have enacted stern laws that ban ragging and it has been completely eradicated in countries such as Canada and Japan. But sadly, India, which inherited ragging as a legacy from the British Raj, has not been able to free itself from the clutches of this inhuman practice. It can be said, without any room for doubt, that the worst form of ragging is committed in India. Infact, according to a research conducted by CURE , India and Sri Lanka are the only two countries in the world where ragging exists.
via http://www.legalserviceindia.com

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