Ragging in India

Ragging in India is a damaging form of interaction of the seniors in college or school with the juniors, new entrants or first years. It is similar to but not the same as hazing in the United States, it is not an initiation. It involves insults (simple or suggestive sexual, sarcastic and even physical), running errands for seniors, and many other complex activities. Highly reputed Indian colleges have a history of ragging especially Medical colleges. It has become increasingly unpopular due to several complaints of serious injury to the victims and stringent laws pertaining to ragging. Ragging is now defined as an act that violates or is perceived to violate an individual student's dignity.

Following Supreme Court orders, a National Anti-Ragging Helpline was launched by the Indian Government. Students being ragged send emails at helpline@antiragging.in to register their complaint, which can be registered without disclosing the name(s) of the victim(s). If the students wants, he or she may even complain without disclosing his or her name, by making an anonymous email id, or by calling the helpline number 1800-180-5522. Effective action is taken by the helpline for the complaints registered to it. Many students even commit suicide due to ragging. It may even damage the mental ability of the students. Some people believe that ragging should be banned but some feel that it is a good way of making fresh entrants feel at home in school or in college.

History

Initially ragging started in the British era in English colleges and universities but it slowly spread to Indian educational institutions. The excuse was to teach the social hierarchy in early career, and also learn other important values in life as if they were mature enough to know anything about values and hierarchy. Many colleges such as AIIMS, Christian Medical College and IIT Delhi and National college of engineering, Tirunelveli have an unpleasant history of ragging, with many of the alumni regarding the ragging period as unbearable and traumatic.

Present State

Practice of familiarising beginners with their seniors has now turned into a potent tool for ill-treating and punishing poor students if they fail to obey their seniors.

Under the pretext of fun, a poor student is often assaulted, sometimes even stripped and intimidated by his seniors and this ritualised torture leaves an indelible impression on his mind. The chilling incident continues to haunt him throughout his life, and he unknowingly develops various psychological disorders.

After experiencing the evil of ragging, a student develops a feeling of revenge for his 'unjustified harassment' and derives pleasure in ragging his juniors on his turn. So the trend goes on and students continue to suffer.

Those who surrender before their seniors are set free from the torment after going through a series of inhuman acts, but those who refuse to follow their diktats are subjected to barbaric and brutal treatment and are forced to urinate on high voltage heaters, take part in naked parades, shave off their moustaches and beards, and stand upside down on their heads etc.

The situation sometimes turns so bad that it compels the ragging victim to commit suicide. A section of students feel that light ragging should be allowed in educational institutions, while some are totally opposed to the idea and demand stricter punishment for those involved in it.

A high-level committee in 2009, which probed the death of Aman Kachroo, revealed that alcohol was the main reason leading to serious form of ragging and violence in the campus.

The custom of canning (Ragging) is indeed poorly-thought out. A report from 2007 highlights 42 instances of physical injury, and reports on ten deaths purportedly the result of ragging: Ragging has reportedly caused at least 30–31 deaths in the last 7 years. In the 2007 session, approximately 7 ragging deaths have been reported. In addition, a number of freshmen were severely traumatised to the extent that they were admitted to mental institutions. Ragging in India commonly involves serious abuses and clear violations of human rights. Often media reports and others unearth that it goes on, in many institutions, in the infamous Abu Ghraib style: and on innocent victims.

In many colleges, ragging has been strictly banned and is proving to be effective . However, this ban has not been the case elsewhere, as seen by the number of ragging cases still reported by the media. Ragging involves gross violations of basic human rights. The seniors are known to torture juniors and by this those seniors derive some kind of sadistic pleasures.

Though ragging has ruined the lives of many, resistance against it has grown up only recently. Several Indian states have made legislatures banning ragging, and the Supreme Court of India has taken a strong stand to curb ragging. Ragging has been declared a criminal offence.

The Indian civil society has also started to mount resistance, only recently.

However, the Anti-Ragging NGO, Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) has supported that ragging is also widely and dangerously prevalent in Engineering and other institutions, mainly in the hostels.

Following a Supreme Court Order, a National Anti-Ragging Helpline was created which helps the victims and take action in cases of ragging, by informing the Head of the Institution and the local police authorities of the ragging complaint from the college. The main feature of the helpline is that the complaints can be registered even without disclosing the name by the victim, through email at helpline@antiragging.in, or through phone at 1800-180-5522.

Anti-Ragging Helpline, and anonymous complaints

India's National Anti-Ragging Helpline started working in June 2009 to help students in distress due to ragging. It consists of an email id and a 24-hour toll-free number, where it is not necessary for the student to tell his or her name, although it is advisable that the students register the complaints in their name. Provision for anonymous complaints was considered of utmost important at the time of establishment of the helpline, since the victim after making the complaint remains with or close to the culprits, away from a fully secure environment. Since many ragging deaths, like Aman Kachroo's, occurred due to seniors taking a revenge of the complaint made, anonymous complaints were equally allowed at the helpline.

Within 15 minutes of receiving the complaint, it is forwarded to the head of the institution and the local police authorities through phone and email, who take prompt action against the perpetrators of ragging. The functioning of the helpline is monitored by an independent NGO, at present Aman Movement, which lists all the complaints received and the action taken on them.

There has been a change in the email id of the helpline, from helpline@antiragging.net to helpline@antiragging.in. The second email id is in working condition since 2012, when the portal antiragging.in was launched.

The helpline provides a complaint number to each victim, and the victim should inquire about the action taken within 24 to 48 hours.

As per UGC regulations, it is mandatory for a college to register an F.I.R. with police against the culprits if any violence, physical abuse, sexual harassment, confinement etc. takes place with any fresher. After receiving any such complaint from the helpline, it becomes the duty of the head of the institution to register the F.I.R. with police within 24 hours. In 2013, a police case was registered against the director, dean and registrar of a reputed college in Delhi for, among other charges, not informing the police and registering F.I.R. within 24 hours of receiving the ragging complaint.(failing to inform a public authority, IPC 176).

The database of the Anti-Ragging Helpline indicates that it has been to an extent successful in ensuring a safer environment in colleges from where it registered the complaints. In many a cases though, it forwarded the complaint to the University Grants Commission (UGC) for an action against those colleges which refused to take any action against the culprits.

Controversy

A major concern that was highlighted against the helpline was that it registered a minuscule percentage (0.1%) of the total phone calls it received, and that meant it registered complaint in one out of one thousand calls it received. Specifically, the toll-free helpline (1800-180-5522) received 165,297 calls in the three months of November 2012 to January 2012, hence 77 calls an hour and at least a call a minute. But, only 190 complaints were registered in this period. In its defence, the helpline said that most of the calls it received were of inquiry in nature, of the eager students to know whether the helpline number worked or not. Many a times students changed their minds also midway not to register the complaint. It also said that many of the calls were hoaxes as it was a toll-free number.

Anonymity

Amid such concerns in media that the helpline staff may be sometimes avoiding registration of complaints, registering through email at helpline@antiragging.in is generally considered best since receiving an email can not be avoided. This is also a good way for those students wishing to register the complaint without disclosing their names, as after making an anonymous email id students send their complaints to the helpline, as shown by the helpline database. Such anonymous complaints though, may be registered at the helpline number 1800-180-5522 also. In some cases, as reported by the helpline database, the colleges did not take action in complaints filed with fake names, citing that no such fresher was a students of the college, whereas action was taken in complaints filed in an anonymous name, such as '5 freshers of Engineering'.

Nevertheless, the helpline has been to an extent effective in ensuring action against the culprits, and ensuring a safer environment at education institutions at least in the cases it registers, although regular news appearing in media of ragging incidents warrants it to be even more effective.

Mention by Eminent Persons

So many people believe that ragging is just a very small problem in India. This perception has been prevalent because those who encounter most brutal form of ragging, never speak up generally.

The legendary Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan in a media appearance said,"Ragging has happened with me too. I passed out my college in the 60s, and at that time also, ragging was existent in colleges, sometimes worse... I really can't tell you guys what kind of ragging I have been through. Please don't ask me."

The ace cricketer Suresh Raina candidly reveals a ragging past in many interviews to the media. He says, "I remember in the college hostel (Guru Gobind Singh Sports College, Lucknow) in the first year maine bahot maar khayi hai. Khoob pitayi karte the seniors (The seniors used to heavily beat me). There used to be a lot of ragging. I've washed so many clothes I don't even remember. " In another interview, Suresh Raina's brother Dinesh Raina reveals, "Suresh's cricketing career could have ended within six months of his joining the Sports College... shaken by the experience, the young boy became withdrawn.... He was so shocked and nervous that he never wanted to go back to the (sports) college. He stayed at home for nearly six months, but I finally talked him out of it. I spoke to his coaches in Lucknow and only after getting complete assurance did I take Suresh back to the college." Had it not been for his elder brother Dinesh, Suresh Raina would have returned to his home in Muradnagar and a promising cricketing career would have been nipped in the bud, due to ragging.

Shakti Kapoor, a Kirori Mal College (Delhi) alumnus, didn't attend college for 10 days after a few seniors tried to rag him. "I studied in KMC, the same college where Amitabh Bachchan studied. Ragging was common then. I remember a group of ... seniors tried to rag me. They took me to the hostel and wanted to do something weird with me. They asked me to pull my pants down and go around the college. But I escaped," he recalled. Another example how sexual ragging has been prevalent in Indian colleges even in 1960s.

Anurag Kashyap, Bollywood writer-producer-director was the youngest in his class at the Scindia School, Gwalior. He was often at the receiving end of severe ragging. He would run and hide in the school library. Sexually abused and bullied as a child, he brooded over his anguish – for years. Kashyap says,“Sexual abuse is common in schools, especially residential ones... Then, I was deeply affected by it" adding,“As a direct effect [of the abuse in school], I built muscle in college, started playing sports, and would often be seen with a hockey stick in hand. I would get out of the oppressive college cliques, forming my own parallel world, all the while protecting those who weren’t strong enough,” he says. An example how brutal, sexual ragging distorts the minds of young.

Another Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal reveals that in the summer of 1990 he walked into his college and had mistakenly asked a senior to carry his luggage into the hostel. The actor was subsequently ragged for a long time and vowed never to rag his juniors in turn. Rampal is admittedly very much against ragging and considers it to be equal to a full-fledged crime.

Sujit Saraf, a California-based filmmaker and playwright studied at the IIT-Delhi between 1987 and ’92. He reveals "we crawled on all fours and barked like dogs; we brought cigarettes and Campa Cola for our seniors; we cleaned their rooms; we dropped our trousers so they could measure our penises; we formed human trains — each car holding the penis of the car in front — and whistled our way through hostel corridors; we simulated orgies; stripped naked"

Noted filmmaker Imtiaz Ali has a similar experience, "In college, a lot of guys had stripped me naked during the ragging... At that time it was terrible....Craziest thing I've ever done – we've all walked naked...in those days ... it was part of mass ragging that everyone had to do"

Prakash Rajpurohit, ranked 4th in IIT-JEE 2003 and later IAS second topper, ran away from IIT Delhi hostel hitting the headlines. In his complaint lodged with the police, Rajpurohit had said students were asked among other things to enact a honeymoon scene, strip and consume alcohol.

Manish Gupta, Movie Director, says "I was a day-boarder in an engineering college in Bandra and my friends who stayed in the hostels were forced into sodomy with other boys as part of a ragging ritual"

Rahul Dev, Movie Actor, says "I did my engineering from Bangalore and stayed in a hostel there. Though the seniors with their presence sparked off fear telling us to jump around holding our crotches, we challenged them and did not give in to their unreasonable demands. But I can't describe the tension that we went through at that moment. There were times when juniors were made to wear kurta-pyjama and rubber slippers and roam around the college campus. Let me tell you that is not a good feeling and can damage your esteem for life."

Sona Mohapatra, Singer reveals, "I was horribly ragged in my engineering college in Odisha. Ragging is deplorable, and must be banned. Be it physical, mental, minor or major, ragging is a very perverted show of power, control and humiliation, and not way of getin anyone to join a community and blend into it. There are more interesting ways of doing that."

Sona Mohapatra later revealed at the Satyamev Jayate website that, "The core group who ragged me incessantly in that disgusting manner went on to MBA's & entries into MNC's. Many #ARealMan in our workplaces."

Sundar Pichai, Google CEO was subjected to "jump on a table and do something absurdly self-deprecating or lean out of a balcony and hurl... epithets (at a senior's bidding) at some unsuspecting passer-by" at IIT Kharagpur.

Legislation

In 1997, the state of Tamil Nadu first passed laws related to ragging. Subsequently, a major boost to anti-ragging efforts was given by a landmark judgement of the Supreme Court of India in May 2001, in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Vishwa Jagriti Mission.

The Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), following a directive by the Supreme court, appointed a seven-member panel headed by ex-CBI director Dr. R. K. Raghavan to recommend anti-ragging measures. The Raghavan Committee report, submitted to the court in May 2007, includes a proposal to include ragging as a special section under the Indian Penal Code. The Supreme Court of India interim order (based on the recommendations) dated 16 May 2007 makes it obligatory for academic institutions to file official First Information Reports with the police in any instance of a complaint of ragging. This would ensure that all cases would be formally investigated under criminal justice system, and not by the academic institutions own ad-hoc bodies.

The Indian Supreme Court has taken a strong stand to prevent ragging. In 2006, the court directed the H.R.D. Ministry of the Govt. of India to form a panel which will suggest guidelines to control ragging.

The panel, headed by the former director of C.B.I. Dr. R.K.Raghavan, met victims, guardians and others across the country. The Raghavan committee has placed its recommendation to the Hon'ble Supreme Court, which has given its order on the issue.

Welcoming the Supreme Court's recent judgment on ragging Dr. Raghavan, the former CBI director, who is the chairman, Monitoring Committee for the Prevention of Ragging, said, "there are finally signs that the recommendations to prevent ragging in colleges will be taken seriously."

Supreme Court in 2007 directed that all the higher educational institutions should include information about all the ragging incidents in their brochures/prospectus of admission.

2009 UGC Regulation

In 2009, in the wake of Aman Kachroo's death, University Grants Commission (UGC) passed UGC REGULATION ON CURBING THE MENACE OF RAGGING IN HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, 2009. These regulation mandate every college responsibilities to curb the menace of ragging, including strict pre-emptive measures, like lodging freshers in a separate hostel, surprise raids especially at nights by the anti-ragging squad and submission of affidavits by all senior students and their parents taking oath not to indulge in ragging. The main features of the regulations are:

Responsibilities of Educational Institutions

1. Applicable to ALL higher educational institutions, imparting education beyond 12 years of schooling.

BEFORE AND DURING ADMISSION AND REGISTRATION :

2. Every public declaration, brochure of admission/instruction booklet or the prospectus to print these regulations in full.

3.Telephone numbers of the Anti-Ragging Helpline and all the important functionaries in the institution, members of the Anti-Ragging Committees and Anti-Ragging Squads etc. to be published in brochure of admission/instruction booklet or the prospectus.

4 Every student and his/her parents to file an affidavit avowing not to indulge in ragging.

5. The institution to prominently display posters detailing laws and punishment against ragging.

6. Anti-ragging squad to ensure vigil at odd hours during first few months at hostels, inside institution premises as well as privately commercially managed hostels.

AFTER ADMISSION:

7. Printed leaflet to be given to every fresher detailing addresses and telephone numbers of the Anti-Ragging Helpline, Wardens, Head of the institution, all members of the anti-ragging squads and committees, and relevant district and police authorities.

8. Identity of informants of ragging incidents to be fully protected.

9. Faculty members assigned to students to make surprise visits and to maintain a diary of his/her interaction with the freshers.

10. Freshers to be lodged, as far as may be, in a separate hostel block.

11. Head of the institution, at the end of each academic year, to send a letter to the parents/guardians of the students who are completing their first year in the institution informing them about these Regulations.

ANTI-RAGGING COMMITTEE and ANTI-RAGGING SQUAD

12. Anti-Ragging Committee to be nominated and headed by the Head of the institution, and consisting of representatives of civil and police administration, local media, Non Government Organizations involved in youth activities, representatives of faculty members, representatives of parents, representatives of students belonging to the freshers' category etc.

13. Duty of the Anti-Ragging Committee to ensure compliance with the provisions of these Regulations

14 Anti-Ragging Squad to be nominated by the Head of the Institution for maintaining vigil, oversight and patrolling functions and shall remain mobile, alert and active at all times.

15. Anti-Ragging Squad to make surprise raids on hostels.

16. Discreet random surveys to be conducted amongst the freshers every fortnight during the first three months.

17. The Heads of institutions affiliated to a University or a constituent of the University to submit a weekly report on the status of compliance with Anti-Ragging measures and a monthly report on such status thereafter, to the Vice-Chancellor of the University.

18. The Vice-Chancellor of each University to submit fortnightly reports, including those of the Monitoring Cell on Ragging in case of an affiliating university, to the State Level Monitoring Cell.

COMPLAINT OF RAGGING

19. First Information Report (FIR) to be filed within twenty four hours of receipt of such information or complaint of ragging, with the police and local authorities.

20. Head of the institution to forthwith report the incident of ragging to the District Level Anti-Ragging Committee and the Nodal officer.

21. institution shall also continue with its own enquiry and remedial action to be completed with-in seven days.

Responsibilities of UGC

1. The Commission to verify that the institutions strictly comply with the requirement of getting the affidavits from the students and their parents/guardians as envisaged under these Regulations.
2. The Commission to make it mandatory for the institutions to incorporate in their prospectus, the anti-ragging directions of the Central Government or the State Level Monitoring Committee
3. The Commission to maintain an appropriate data base to be created out of affidavits, and such database to also function as a record of ragging complaints received, and the status of the action taken thereon.
4. The Commission shall make available the database to a non-governmental agency
5. The Commission to include a specific condition in the Utilization Certificate, in respect of any financial assistance or grants-in-aid to any institution, that the institution has complied with the anti-ragging measures.
6. The Commission to constitute an Inter-Council Committee to co-ordinate and monitor the anti-ragging measures in institutions across the country.
7. The Commission to institute an Anti-Ragging Cell within the Commission to provide secretarial support for collection of information and monitoring, and to co-ordinate with the State Level Monitoring Cell and University level Committees for effective implementation of anti-ragging measures

Use of Right To Information

Despite all these legislations, the implementation has been slow on the part of the educational institutions. Many anti-ragging activists have advocated use of right to information (RTI) by the freshers/ victims to ensure that the institutions follow the rules to curb ragging strictly. For example, one of the strongest reasons for ragging to happen is that the raggers are dead sure that parents would never ever get to know their heinous acts. The affidavit filed by parents to the institution has the name, address and telephone numbers of the parents of the senior students. A fresher can file RTI applications, even without disclosing identity by using a friend's help and name, to get a copy of this affidavit, and then call/ write himself or make his parents talk to ragger’s parents to rein in him. Also, the college and the UGC can be made to follow the anti-ragging measures strictly by the use of RTI. Once freshers take courage and start doing that, it is a general feeling that ragging may drastically reduce in India, as every student will become a soldier in the fight against ragging. Sample RTI applications have also been posted by some of the anti-ragging websites to help students in that.

Anti-ragging movement

With the situation of ragging worsening yearly, there is emerging a spontaneous anti-ragging movement in India. Several voluntary organisations have emerged, who conduct drives for public awareness and arrange for support to victims.

Online groups like Coalition to Uproot Ragging from India (CURE), Stopragging, No Ragging Foundation became the major Anti Ragging groups on the Internet. Among them, the No Ragging Foundation has transformed into a complete NGO and got registered as Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) which is India's first registered Anti Ragging non profit organisation (NGO). These groups are working on issues related to ragging. Each of them is running anti ragging websites and online groups.

The Indian media has been playing a crucial role by exposing ragging incidents and the indifference of many concerned institutions towards curbing the act. The Supreme Court of India has directed, in its interim judgement, that action may be taken even against negligent institutions.

Recent Ragging Incidents

2012

• College of Engineering and Management, Kolaghat

A first-year student of electronics and instrumentation at Kolaghat engineering college was allegedly assaulted by his seniors outside the college campus while the West Midnapore boy was on his way back home. On 29 August, seniors with their faces covered slashed the boy's arm, neck and back and threatened him with dire consequences if he ever returned to the college. His parents lodged a complaint with the college director Naredra Nath Jana and Kolaghat police on Monday.

This isn't the first time that Subhro Samanta, a bright student from Daspur resident, has met with such fate.

"My son often used to complain of being assaulted and tortured by seniors. We told him that it was a passing phase and urged him to concentrate on his studies," Subhro's father Tapas Samanta said. Jana has ordered a probe into the attack.

• Oxford College of Science and Management, Bangalore

A second-year student of Management, Shobhonesh Naskar died due to ragging done by his own roommates. The college is denying the case since it may deteriorate the reputation. C.I D investigation is in progress. According to the father of Mr. Shobhonesh, on 13 February 2012, his roommates threw him down from roof while he was talking to his mother.

Ragging Deaths

2015

• Ritikeswari, 19, was found dead in ANU. In her suicide note she named several seniors who had ragged her and distributed her semi-nude videos on WhatsApp.
• Krishna, 19 hanged himself in November. In his diary, he accused Shekhar, a third year student at his college in Chennai of repeatedly beating and robbing him of pocket money. Police

2010

• Nagedra AV, 25, was found dead in Chandigarh's prestigious Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research on 19 April. The doctor had joined this post-graduate institution just two months ago. The police said he jumped to death from the hostel building, his father said he had been pushed. His father said a day ago he had said he was finding it difficult to continue there due to ragging.
• Sinmoi Debroy, 21, was found hanging from the ceiling fan, dead, in his hostel room in Chennai on 4 April. It was a private hostel shared by students of various colleges. Most of the 42 SMSes in the Assamese engineering student's mobile phone were threats and abuses from seniors, who also demanded money.
• Ajub Ajith, 19, hanged himself to death from the ceiling fan in his house in Thiruvananathapuram on 31 March. He was a student of at the Sarabhai Institute of Science and Technology. He had told his mother that he was being ragged badly, but prevented her from complaining to the principal as, he said, that would make matters worse for him.
• Satwinder Kumar, 28, ended his life on 3 March. He was a student of the Advanced Training Institute, Mumbai. In his suicide note he named seven seniors who had ragged him so much that he left for home for Kurukshetra rather than take mid-term exams. Before he could reach home, he committed suicide by throwing himself before a goods train in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district.
• Premlatha, 22, committed suicide by consuming sulphuric acid in the chemistry lab of the B.S.Abdur Rahman Crescent Engineering College on 5 February. Her brother singled out one senior, Yogesh, 22, a fourth year student, as the person ragging her the most.
• Gaurav Sadanand Raut, 22, strangulated himself to death on 9 February in his hostel room in Nashik's Maratha Vidya Prasarak Samaj Medical College. His father named his roommates Mandhar Monde and Anil Kavade as the culprits. Although the police detained four students, the local NCP MLA, Vasant Pawar, also the general secretary of the college body, denied that the student had been ragged.

2009

• Anusha Hyderabad 5 November
• Ayan Adak Kolkata 9 October 2009
• On 7 March, Aman Kachroo, 19, a first year student of Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, HP, India, had repeatedly complained to his parents about the brutal ragging that took place on the Medical College campus – often by completely drunk third-year students. On Friday night and Saturday morning ( 6–7 March 2009), the boy was beaten so badly that he died of brain haemorrhage.

2008

• In September–December 2008, a student of Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad was ragged by 3 of his seniors, namely, Ravi Shankar, a resident of Vadodara; Naveen Tomar, from Hisar; and Ajmer resident P C Gupta. The victim (name withheld) complained that three fellow management students at IMT-Ghaziabad forced him to undress and threw lit matchsticks at his private parts in the campus on 27 September. The Ghaziabad police initially refused to register his complaint, but finally lodged a case on Thursday (4 December) after intervention from the Ghaziabad SSP.

2007

• On 22 October Amit Tiwari 22, who was studying Mechanical Engineering at Government Polytechnic in Pratapgarh near Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh died of poisoning, the seniors used to make him strip in front of others and were beaten up when they resisted.
• On 18 September Durgesh Shukla hanged himself from a ceiling fan in his hostel room in Pioneer College, Bhopal. He blamed seniors in his suicide note.
• On 8 August Manjot Singh, an MBBS student, committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance. He did so at his residence in Chandigarh, due to ragging in his hostel at the Government Medical College, Chandigarh.
• On 20 September Chetan Raj, 18, committed suicide in Mysore. His body was found hanging from the roof of his lodge room. He had already complained to his parents that he was being ragged in his college.

2006

• In November S. P. Manoj committed suicide in his hostel room at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology, Hyderabad.
• On 5 November Azad Nair, 22, a cadet at the Officer's Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai. He had hanged himself from the fan of his room. Prior to his suicide he had told his brother Soumendu over telephone that he was being ragged and humiliated at the OTA and he had pleaded to his father Padmanabhan Nair to rescue him from the OTA.
• Ashoke Chaudhury

2005

• On 14 December C Abraham, a first year engineering student, hanged himself to death at his residence in Hyderabad. In his suicide note, he mentioned that he was not interested in studies. His parents suspected his suicide to be a result of ragging.
• On 5 December Sridhar, 18, hanged himself to the ceiling fan in his hostel room in Chennai. In the English press, only one newspaper in Mumbai reported the incident.
• On October 11 Amit Gangwar, hailing from Bareli, UP, and a first year student of industrial engineering of NIT Jalandhar, committed suicide by jumping before a train.
• In July Kamlesh Sarkar, 19, committed suicide in a private hotel management institute in Kalyani, Nadia district, West Bengal. The police filed an unnatural death case and not one of ragging.

2004

• In June, Sushil Kumar Pandey, 18, hanged himself to death after the humiliation of being paraded naked by his seniors at the Madan Mohan Malviya Engineering College, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.
• Aakriti Dhar
• Ehsan Saba

2002

• In September Anup Kumar, 19, committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his residence in Kanpur. In his suicide note, Anup said that he was going through mental agony due to the sexual harassment by second-year students of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow, in the name of ragging.

1996

• Pon Navarasu was murdered by senior student John David. David, a second year medical student, brutally murdered Navarasu, a first year MBBS student of Muthaiah Medical College, Annamalai University, Chidambaram and son of former Madras University vice-chancellor P K Ponnusamy, during a ragging session in his (John David's) hostel room on the night of 6 November 1996. Naavarasu had refused to submit to… a humiliating demand, in the name of ragging, to lick the soles of his chappals. The 19-year-old senior used his karate skills to fatally attack Naavarasu. He then dismembered the body, cut it into pieces with surgical instruments and dispensed with them in different parts of the state…"

See also

• Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE)
• Society Against Violence in Education
• Table No. 21