Petition to: The Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi, PIN 110001 Tel.No. 23384012 Fax No. 23384863 E-Mail: covdnhrc@nic.in, ionhrc@nic.in

Subject: Accountability of the National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad in the case of ragging that took place within its premises in June-July2008


Incidents of Ragging in educational institutions in India, particularly at the undergraduate level, have been rampant. Ragging has achieved the connotation of inhuman physical and emotional torture of freshers in the name of introducing them to a new life in colleges and toughening them up. The menace of ragging rages on in spite of the Supreme Court of India banning any form of ragging in all educational institutions (2001) There have been numbers of incidents of ragging which reflect the extreme torture (mental, physical and sexual), trauma, harassment and even loss of life of the juniors. Examples of such inhuman treatment of individuals cannot be tolerated.

On the 8th March 2009, a first year medical student Aman Kachroo(19) of Dr R.P.Medical College, Kangra,Himachal Pradesh was brutally assaulted by four senior students which resulted in death of the professional student. Again on the 12th March 2009 an agricultural engineering student of Bapatla in Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh was allegedly made to dance nude as part of ragging by her seniors following which the girl attempted to commit suicide.

In addition to the arrest of the offenders, the Supreme Court has issued on the 16th March 2009 contempt notices to the heads of two government educational institutions in Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, asking why action should not be taken against them for flouting the apex courts directions to take strict action against those indulging in ragging.

It is encouraging to know that our apex court is taking a serious note of the accountability of academic institutions in the implementation of the court directives in eradicating this criminal offence in form of ragging. In this perspective it would be pertinent to note that in July 2008 an 18-year-old faced brutal ragging from day one after he had joined The National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. The freshers ordeal begun within half an hour of entering the hostel premises when two boarders began ragging him immediately while a few others enjoyed the show, which amounted to sexual harassment. The ragging included abuses, forcing freshers to act out obscene scenes of sexual act. This incident was filmed on their mobile phones. The senior boarders forced such humiliating activities on the juniors mostly under inebriated state. The fresher was too terrified to even step into the hostel room and slept on the terrace of an adjoining building till his father took him back home. The net result of this criminal act: a) severe mental trauma suffered by the 18-year-old and the harassment of his parents; b) loss of a valuable year by the fresher as he was too traumatized to return and join the institute; c) two second year students who were directly involved in ragging the boy were immediately terminated from the Academic Programme, removed from the rolls of the Institute and three other students who abetted ragging activities were expelled from the hostel and also put on probation for one year during which the Institute would examine whether they were worthy of continuing in the academic programme of the Institute. All the above five students ceased to receive any kind of scholarship/freeship and the amount paid so far had to be refunded.

Excerpts from the May-2007 Interim Orders By the Honbl. Supreme Court to curb ragging (as per the report submitted by the Committee headed by Dr R.K.Raghavan) states that the primary responsibility for curbing ragging rests with academic institutions themselves and it shall be the collective responsibility of the authorities and functionaries of the concerned institution and their role shall also be open to scrutiny for the purpose of finding out whether they have taken effective steps for preventing ragging and in case of their failure, action can be taken, for example, denial of any grant-in-aid or assistance from the State Governments.

Anti-ragging committees and squads shall be forthwith formed by the institutions and it shall be the job of the committee or squad, as the case may be, to see that the Committees Recommendations, are observed without exception and it if it is noticed that there is any deviation, the same shall be forthwith brought to the notice of this Court.

The Office Order of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad dated 16th July 2008 meted out punishment to the seniors who indulged in acts of ragging along with those who abetted ragging activities to that 18-year-old fresher but accountability of the Hostel Wardens, the faculty members and the NID administration did not feature in the Order. I feel that the onus of making an institution ragging free lies primarily on the institution itself. Summarily terminating seniors who are involved in ragging their juniors shall not abolish ragging from the institute. The hostel wardens, the faculty members (anti-ragging squads) and the administration should be made equally responsible/accountable for each and every cases of ragging within their premises. Such unfortunate incident could have been avoided had the institute followed the Supreme Court guidelines diligently and guarded the freshers from being ragged by the seniors.

The petition herein is to the Chairman, The National Human Rights Commission (India) to hold The National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380007 India, equally responsible (if not more) for the trauma suffered by the 18-year-old in July 2008 within its hostel premises and loss of a valuable academic year hereafter and enquire as to what steps have been taken by the institute to punish the concerned erring authorities namely the hostel wardens, anti-ragging squads and the administrative authorities who were in charge of counseling and checking such heinous acts(ragging) within the institute premises.

Does a child have to be murdered or there has to be an attempted case of suicide due to ragging for the academic institutions to be brought to books? There are innumerable cases of worse form of ragging taking place every year in many an esteemed institutes that gets brushed under the carpet due to lack of accountability of these institutions. It is time for them to be accountable, as this shall go a long way to fight the menace of ragging. It is never too late to fight for justice and protection of the human rights of a child.