Ragging: IIT-Kanpur suspends 22 students for abusing, thrashing juniors
IIT-Kanpur has suspended 22 second-year B.Tech students for as long as up to three years for ragging juniors. Sixteen of them won't be allowed to attend classes for three years, and the rest six for a year. Major institutions in India are stepping up against ragging. In August, AIIMS suspended 12 students for ragging and misbehaving with juniors.
In India, ragging is banned in all campuses. Such acts are punishable by fines of up to Rs. 50,000, jail terms ranging from six months to 10 years, and awarding of certificates that "the student had indulged in ragging" which can adversely affect career prospects.
The suspended students faced "extremely serious" charges: about 30 juniors had complained they were thrashed, abused and forced "to do inhuman acts", including stripping. The acts were also recorded and circulated. Moreover, the president and other office-bearers of the student gymkhana have been removed from posts for ignoring the juniors' complaint. Action was expedited only after a professor wrote about it on his blog.
The students will have no right to appeal against the decision till the suspension period ends; they will be allowed to take admission afterwards. However, no police complaint has been filed against them so as not to jeopardize their future career prospects further.
There have been several ragging cases which have led to death of victims. In 1996, Rajah Muthiah Medical College student Pon Navarasu's dismembered body was found across different parts of Tamil Nadu. In 2009, Aman Satya Kachroo succumbed to injuries after being assaulted by drunk seniors. In 2012, Ajmal PM, a student at a Bengaluru engineering college, was set on fire by his seniors.
