The Hindu : New Delhi News : Delhi University says no to ragging

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Thursday, Jul 17, 2008
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Delhi University says no to ragging

Parul Sharma

PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

HAPPY NEW YEAR: Roses and smiles are the order of the day as Delhi University begins its new academic year on Wednesday. –

NEW DELHI: The first day of the new academic year at Delhi University turned out to be a refreshingly smooth affair for the new Class of 2008 as there were no incidents of severe ragging on the campus.

There were some colleges where seniors had “mild” ragging or “harmless” interaction sessions with the newcomers. In some colleges, some juniors had not even met their seniors, let alone being ragged.

“We had an orientation programme and were given our time-tables. We were there in the classrooms, but no seniors approached us. There was no interaction at all. We do not even know who our seniors are. Everyone seemed to be occupied with their own work,” rued Mahima Srivastava at Hindu College. A group of seniors at the college also said they had not met their juniors.

“Even if we meet them later this week, we would not indulge in any kind of offensive ragging, just plain introduction,” said one boy.

“Today we had an orientation programme. Our seniors introduced themselves to us. We did not face any problems at all. In fact, the seniors told us that we must approach them should we face any problem at the college or on the university campus,” said Niharika, a Sanskrit (Hons) first year student at Miranda House.

While there were some who were asked to croon a song or introduce themselves at Shri Ram College of Commerce, Upalika Prasad was glad she had not met her seniors.

“I am kind of relieved we have not met them because they will ask us to sing and dance and I am not good at both!” she remarked with a smile.

At Hans Raj College, new students were made to do innocuous things, but those who said they were not comfortable with it were let off.

No harassment

“No one was forced. There was no harassment of any kind. Whatever a student was comfortable with, be it doing push-ups or reciting an Urdu couplet, was asked to do that. It was a lot of fun,” said Sricheta Das.

R. Ayana and Pritha Bhunia found their seniors to be helpful and cooperative: “They gave us all the information about library facilities, attendance and internal assessment rules and different activities in the college.”

Earlier in the day, the Delhi University Students’ Union welcomed freshers with flowers and chocolates. The office-bearers staged an anti-ragging rally on the campus in association with the Delhi police. It was flagged off by Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Devesh Srivastava.

Rally organised

A number of students took part in the rally, including nearly 40 members of the Yellow Task Force set up by DUSU for protection of new students.

“We believe that only students have a great role in preventing ragging. We took out the rally to involve students in our campaign against ragging. We are not against mild, positive interaction, but destructive ragging should certainly be avoided. The DUSU team is also going to take the rounds of the college hostels to ensure that no student is harassed,” said DUSU president Amrita Bahri.

At Swami Shraddhanand College, a first-year student was beaten up by two of his seniors apparently after they had an argument over some issue, according to the police.

Phul Kumar and Shiv Kumar beat up newcomer Sushant over some argument, the police said, vehemently denying that it was a case of ragging. A case has been registered at the Alipur police station on the basis of the victim’s complaint.

Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely visited S.G.T.B. Khalsa College in the morning to inaugurate a new state-of-the-art reading room in the library and a new science block.

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