The Hindu : New Delhi News : `Middle path needed on ragging'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 19, 2007
ePaper

New Delhi

New Delhi

`Middle path needed on ragging'

Parul Sharma

Delhi colleges claim that the one-size-fits-all approach will not be very helpful

NEW DELHI: With the Supreme Court coming down heavily on ragging, Delhi University colleges are making no bones about the "harshness" of the measures.

They claim that the one-size-fits-all approach will not be very helpful to the academic institutions.

"There is a huge difference in the severity of ragging in different institutions. There are some where such measures are necessary, but there are others where they will prove to be draconian because they are not needed," said the officiating Principal of St. Stephen's College, Jacob Cherian. Describing some of the measures put forward by the Supreme Court as "too severe", Kamla Nehru College Principal Minoti Chatterjee said a middle path was needed to look into the menace of ragging.

"It depends on a given institution. There are some day institutions like ours where ragging is more in the nature of fun, song and dance. It is more as a means of introduction. There is nothing vulgar or sexist about it. At the same time there are places, especially that have hostel facilities like medical and engineering colleges, where it is really bad. A middle path has to be evolved somewhere," she said.

Different Principals have different opinions on the apex court ruling that wherever the victim or his parent or guardian or the head of the institution was not satisfied with the institutional arrangement for action on a ragging incident, an FIR must be filed compulsorily by the institutional authority with the local police. Dr. Chatterjee felt that if the matter could be solved within an institution and a student could be counselled there itself, there was no need to go to the police.

"Who has the time to keep going to police stations and courts? As it is, our police and judiciary are overburdened. We should deal [with] ragging with a human perspective. Things like FIR are for criminals. Delhi University provides a mechanism to check ragging. We need to take that seriously. We should keep students busy in projects and assignments so that they do not have time to indulge in such activities," said Dr. Jain

However, the Principal of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Jaswinder Singh, said the Court's decision was a "welcome step."

"There are times when an institution feels helpless to curb the nuisance of ragging and things are beyond our control. Once things like FIR are made mandatory, it will act as a deterrent," said Dr. Singh.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi

News Update

Stories in this Section