Kerala   

Anti-ragging panel suggestions in cold storage

KOCHI: Months after the R.K. Raghavan committee against ragging submitted its report, most universities and colleges in the State are yet to implement its recommendations aimed at checking the growing menace on campuses.

Major suggestions made by the committee appointed by the Supreme Court remain in the cold storage, though the number of ragging victims is going up on various campuses.

In its voluminous report submitted to the apex court, the panel directed every institution to have an anti-ragging committee and an anti-ragging squad.

The committee under the head of the institution should consist of representatives of the civil and police administration, the local media, non-governmental organisations involved in youth activities, faculty members, parents, students, both freshers and seniors, and non-teaching staff.

Most educational institutions have not formed these committees. The squad is supposed to conduct surprise raids on hostels and other hotspots.

Barring a few initiatives, no major attempt has been made to launch such lightning squads in government and self-financing colleges in the State.

At the district-level, the recommendation was for an anti-ragging committee consisting of the heads of higher education institutions and the Superintendent of Police. It should be headed by the District Collector.

The district-level committee should hold meetings during the summer vacation to take stock of the preparedness of each institution and its compliance with the policies and directions or guidelines of the appropriate bodies, the university/State/Central authorities and the apex court’s guidelines related to curbing the menace of ragging.

Investigations found that such committees were remaining only on paper. Senior district administration officials admitted that such bodies had not met even after a series of ragging cases was reported from places such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Thrissur.

Lack of coordinated efforts between university officials and police authorities is delaying justice to ragging victims.

For instance, the Cochin University of Science and Technology authorities intimated the Kalamassery police on Tuesday that a few senior students were involved in ragging on the campus. But the police failed to act immediately, saying that the report furnished by the university authorities was incomplete and did not reveal the identity of the victims.

But the R.K. Raghavan committee report clearly state that complaints or information on ragging can be oral or written and even from third parties and the confidentiality of the source of information must be protected at all costs.

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