Ragging in colleges: Is Kerala failing its students? | Ep 145

[00:00:00] A year after a 19-year-old veterinary student J.S. Siddharthan was found dead following a brutal ragging incident at his hostel in Vainad, more incidents of bullying have come to light across colleges in Kerala. Recent cases have been reported at Karyavatam Government College and Kottem Government College of Nursing. So how serious is the situation in Kerala's colleges? And what can be done to curb this menace?

[00:00:34] This is Harita Benjamin and today we are discussing the rising number of ragging incidents in Kerala's colleges. Joining us today is Dr Mohanan Kundumal, Vice Chancellor of the Kerala University of Health Sciences and the University of Kerala. So welcome to the show sir. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. Thank you so much. So to begin with, could you tell us on what you think about the recent rise in incidents of ragging across campuses in Kerala?

[00:01:04] Thank you. We should know a little bit about the history of ragging. It's not a new phenomenon. In fact, it was imported from Britain. This was practiced in the 16, 17, 18th century public schools in Britain. And when the British education was transferred,

[00:01:23] transferred all the good and bad things, and one thing was ragging. And this was there in various public schools, but in a milder form. And it is considered as some kind of initiation.

[00:01:36] But then people used to get wilder and they used to have some criminal tendencies. But then, now as on today, it is considered as a most heinous crime and it has been banned. And there is zero tolerance to ragging.

[00:01:55] One shocking incident which happened in 1996. A first year medical student was studying in the Mutaiya Medical College, Tamil Nadu, Majas. His name, Puan Navarisu. He was asked to lick the boot of the senior, which this boy refused.

[00:02:17] And then, the ragger, the ragging person, gave him a kick and he was killed. And then, in order to cover up the murder, he cut the boot into pieces and it was thrown to various places and it was then discovered.

[00:02:35] And it created such a huge shock in the entire country. And probably, with that, the various laws came. It is zero tolerance to ragging. That is the most important thing I can say. It cannot be allowed. It is not desirable.

[00:02:55] Now, what is happening is that when a junior student, a first year student comes to a college, very often the senior thinks that he has got a right over him and he can make him do anything. And the junior, he is coming to the college for the first time. Very often after the schooling, he is seeing the college for the first time, does not know anything.

[00:03:19] And then, he has to obey it. And there are large number of criminals in any society. And in the student community also, there are large number of criminals. And they use their criminal tendencies in this ragging. Now, very serious thing, what is happening in the country, in the state, is the huge increase in drug addiction.

[00:03:45] So, a large number of youth are taking drugs. And that makes them mad. And an addict, what they do, you cannot prevent. You cannot predict what an addict is going to do. That is the biggest challenge we are facing. That's why bizarre kind of raggings are reported. And it does not come from a normal adolescent. Adolescents, of course, they behave in a very, very peculiar way.

[00:04:15] But all of us as a medical person, I understand, we can understand that what kind of things an adolescent will do because their frontal lobe is not fully developed. The frontal lobe, which controls your actions, which tells you that these things should not be done, will be maturing by the age of 25. That's why adolescents create all these problems. But then there is a limit to that.

[00:04:39] But then when you give drugs also, so like that, give alcohol to a monkey. So the same thing is happening. And this is the issue. That is why the incidence of ragging is increasing day by day. And the bizarre kind of ragging is increasing day by day. And they don't feel guilty also.

[00:05:02] And another very unfortunate thing happening in our state, Kerala, the political parties, the student-wing political parties support them. And I have a very strong feeling that the leaders of the student-wing political parties are also drug addicts. So a drug addict controlling a drug addict. And that is why it has to be dealt in a very, very strong manner.

[00:05:30] Right. So what are the provisions which are there in colleges at different levels? There are different tiers, right? You can report it to the immediate teacher, then the department, then the college authorities, the university. And then there is, of course, the anti-ragging cell. So how does that work? Could you just walk us through that? Yeah. Possibly, India is one country where the anti-ragging rules are most stringent. Right.

[00:05:56] Suppose a student has been ragged. And what is ragging? He need not be beaten. A word, a verbal or a written word to insult a person is ragging. So no person, somebody who is senior, any person other than first year is a senior. And any person who is studying in first year is a person who is likely to be ragged. The definition very clearly says. Okay.

[00:06:24] Such a person is harassed verbally or physically, psychologically, in any manner. Then the ragged student can give complaint to the teacher, principal. If they have mentor-mentee system, then you can complain to the mentor or to the police station. You can complain to any authorities.

[00:06:48] Now, if the teacher receives a complaint, if the principal receives a complaint, he has to immediately take action. If the teacher receives a complaint, he reports to the principal. And if the principal gets a complaint, immediately the anti-ragging committee has to be informed. There will be an anti-ragging committee in every college. Right. So that is a compulsory provision. Compulsory, mandatory. If it is not there, then action will be taken against the college.

[00:07:17] Now, this anti-ragging committee consisting of senior teachers, police officials, the media person, and general public, and also the first year student and the senior student. This committee will go into the problem. Maximum time given to them is seven days. Within seven days, they should complete the report. Simultaneously, the principal should inform the police also. Simultaneously. Once he gets a complaint, he should inform the police also.

[00:07:46] And the internal inquiry will be conducted by the college. Simultaneously, police will also be conducting inquiry. And if any of these inquiries, it is proven that the allegation is within the framework of ragging. It's a cognizable offense. And the person will be arrested and non-vailable. So that is a very, very strict rule.

[00:08:10] And suppose a principal gets a complaint and does not act, then principal is liable to be punished in the same way as a ragger. Okay. And if the complaint goes to a police officer and he does not act, then the police officer can be punished. So he also gets the same punishment as the ragger. So this is the most stringent act by the government of India. And that has been adopted by the UGC. That has been adopted by the Medical Council of India.

[00:08:40] That has been adopted by state governments. So such a stringent act exists. Once it has been proved, then he'll be out of the college. He'll be dismissed. And he cannot join any institution in the next three years. Then he will go to the jail and rigorous imprisonment for two years and a fine from 25,000 to 1 lakh. So all these things will be on the culprit. Okay.

[00:09:07] So the thing is, even though there are such stringent provisions, there are instances where the faculty who notices ragging takes place does not hesitate to report ragging. So is it because, as you said, that, you know, often these students are affiliated to student organizations or there is a political pressure? That be the reason why a faculty or the authorities are hesitating to report that such acts of violence are being committed in the colleges?

[00:09:36] What you said is absolutely right. At least in Kerala situation, the political parties, the student political parties have got such a power. And even the police is afraid of touching them. And that's why we are seeing a lot of unfortunate incidents in the state.

[00:09:54] And another situation is that once this is going to be proven, the students' parents will try to meet all the political and social, religious leaders and try to put pressure on the faculty. Then they will give apology letter and all these things. And then the teachers will think, anyway, these are youngsters. They have done something. And finally, the pressure will be on the ragged student.

[00:10:23] And then he very often will withdraw the complaint. Because there will be a lot of pressure on him. And there will be pressure on his parents, his family. And this family will be threatened. So, this is a very unfortunate situation. Here, the entire society should be with the ragged student. They should support. Otherwise, what happened in Tamil Nadu may happen. In fact, it is happening.

[00:10:51] And add on to that, what I said is the drug addiction. So, sometimes an adolescent student may do some mischievous act and the people say it's because of his adolescence. But if it is due to ragged addiction, they will have no remorse. And such people are dangerous to the society. And therefore, very stringent action and this ragged addiction has to be rehabilitated.

[00:11:20] And the organizations who are controlling these student politicians, they should know that they are creating a very dangerous situation for the country. Okay. So, sir, the thing is you were talking about the issue of drug addiction and the issue of ragging within campuses. Now, often what we notice is that these ragging incidents come to light only when it goes to the extreme, right?

[00:11:45] We know what happened in case of the Pukot Veterinary College and in case of the Nursing College in Korte. So, these extreme instances are getting reported only when it goes over a certain level. So, is there a way to prevent these incidents before they escalate? So, you know, are there provisions where, you know, teachers are monitoring and talking to students constantly?

[00:12:10] Or student representatives are talking to students constantly and checking, making sure that there is a check and balance? So, is there any provision for that? Or is, you know, is that still yet to be done in campuses? In fact, as I said, the provisions of the Anti-Ragging Act in India and the various directions by the various national councils are very clear. And as a doctor, I can say that prevention is better than cure.

[00:12:40] And there are a lot of methods of prevention. Number one, before a new type of student are admitted, every college should conduct a program, a one-day workshop kind of training for all the senior students. Telling them that ragging is illegal, criminal, serial toleration.

[00:13:00] And usually, colleges will have to conduct a training program where the police officers or judicial officers will be addressing the students and telling them the changes. Number one. Number two, the parents should be informed. A PTA meeting should be called. These are all as per the directions by Government of India.

[00:13:21] A PTA meeting should be called and all the parents should be sent letters that if any ragging incident happened to you, has been reported with respect to your student, this life will be miserable. That kind of information. And the copy of the act also has to be circulated.

[00:13:41] Then there will be CDs of big votes kept in the campus of every college saying that ragging is banned, zero dollar, these are the punishment, two-year imprisonment, all these things should be there. So the awareness about ragging should be there with the student. In most campus, they are aware of it. In spite of awareness, some people are. That is a problem.

[00:14:08] And when the first-year students join and they are given a clear class in almost all colleges, as regards to Kerala University Health Sciences, I can confidently say that all these things are happening and we directly monitor it. So the students will be given a class. What is ragging? And whom to report? And you can be pulled. And they can anonymously report. So whoever reports will be protected.

[00:14:36] So all these things are happening. And that's how we could prevent, in a large extent, ragging in the health science colleges in Kerala. But then, as I told you, the big challenge of drug addiction, they won't understand. And another problem in Kerala were many parents are not in India. They are abroad in the Gulf. They don't know what is happening to students.

[00:15:05] And whatever the student says, they will believe. And there is no monitoring by the parents on the behavior of the student. This is a very serious issue. The parents should know what their children are doing. And whenever the college informs the parents, they won't believe the college. And they will come with the political leaders and then harass the college. So this is happening.

[00:15:32] So parents should know that if their children are punished, their future is lost forever. That is the message I want to tell. Right. So the thing is, moving on, there are provisions for installing CCTV cameras within colleges, right? And we have seen that very often this is not followed to the rule, right? And in Kortem Nursing College case, a video was shot with the accused.

[00:16:02] And that kind of helped the police narrow down on who the accused were. And even at the Karyavatam College, before the matter was handed over to the police, the anti-ragging cell had reviewed the CCTV footage to verify the allegations. But we see that in the Pukot case, there wasn't much the CCTV footage could help with. And four or five cameras were actually installed after the incident took place. So are CCTV cameras mandatory across Kerala's campuses, first of all?

[00:16:31] And are there any mechanisms to ensure that these are functioning and these are being monitored? So how does that work? Yeah, CCTV is actually a great boom now because most of the crimes happening in various places are, in fact, narrowed down with the help of these CCTV, which is incidentally like that. So CCTV should be there. In the rules, it has not been made mandatory, but I feel that it should be made mandatory.

[00:16:59] In the medical colleges, National Medical Commission has made it mandatory to have CCTVs to see the patient movement and all these things. But that CCTV covers almost all areas. And in the hostels also, various places. In fact, in Karyavatam campus of the university, after I took over as the vice-cancelor, we have given strict instruction to have CCTV in the campus.

[00:17:26] And another thing is that even if you have CCTVs, the miscreants will destroy the cameras. So that is happening. And then it is difficult to take action against them because they are part of the powerful political group. So such things are happening. Okay. Now let's look at another aspect. We know that there are stringent provisions when it comes to ragging incidents.

[00:17:49] So is there a scenario where this law is being misused by juniors to penalize seniors over minor disputes? So I've heard that, you know, it is being misused in certain instances. So are there cases like that which comes up in your university or otherwise? No, that is expectable. Right. Any law can be misused. Okay.

[00:18:13] So if there is some political agenda to be solved and somebody will ask the first year to give a complaint, and then if a first year gives a written complaint and he sticks on to that, the senior will have to be arrested. He has to prove that he did not do that. Right. The law is like that. It is like prevention of crime against children. So that act, that act also is like that.

[00:18:42] If some child says that I have been abused, then the other party will have to prove that I did not do that. So this is so stringent. But such stringent rules can be misused. Just because of that, you cannot repeal this act. We have to be careful. So what is really happening is that the real allegations get withdrawn because of the pressure. So that is what's happening more. Okay.

[00:19:11] So to wind up, what could be the steps that colleges and different authorities should take in order to prevent that dragging is prevented across campuses and it is a safe space for education? We could wind up with that. Yeah. Number one, we have to declare that there is zero tolerance to ragging. Many people still think that it's a good way of initiating the students. It is not. It is not as per our culture.

[00:19:40] It is not as per any human rules. It is criminal, antisocial, and therefore zero tolerance. And very stringent action against. Awareness is the strongest weapon to prevent this. And this awareness should not be limited to the senior students only, but it should go through the general society at last.

[00:20:08] And what you are doing is definitely one kind of awareness. So these kind of awarenesses, then it will help. So awareness, zero tolerance, stringent punishment. All right. So thank you so much for joining us today, sir. That brings us to the end of today's episode. This is On Manuruma's News Break and Explainer podcast, which is produced by Harita Benjamin. That's me. It airs every week and is available on all podcast platforms. Do follow on manuruma.com for more updates.

[00:20:38] Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Thank you.