A fair ordeal: Discrimination, State accountability and the menace of ragging in Indian educational institutions

THE Indian Constitution establishes political unity in a widely divided society. The Constituent Assembly members envisioned a State capable of liberating the population from the shackles of legacies of injustice. In the 19th century, Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill apprised us about the difficulty of democracy in certain societies in the absence of some background condition. Sudipta Kaviraj has argued that the democratic credentials of our Constitution, the lexicon of which is borrowed from the West, improvised itself in the everyday life of Indian polity. This constitutes a pedagogical issue that the State, the courts and citizens continuously encounter in independent India. Unlike the West, the concentration of power was never limited to the State. Hierarchies of power were maintained by self-regulating communities, creating a system of “layered sovereignty”. India’s founding moments, that culminated in the framing of the Constitution, also put into motion the liberation from political servitude and the conditions for self-determination against layered oppressive structures..It is this transformative vision of the Indian Constitution that invites us to look closely at the ravaging problem of discrimination against minorities in India's public educational institutions.While on one hand, the Constitution induced the equality provisions in a legal regime defined strictly by the relationship between the State and citizens, it simultaneously aspired to dismantle the repressive forces operating in the society, which resulted in unequal power relations among citizens. It is this transformative vision of the Indian Constitution that invites us to look closely at the ravaging problem of discrimination against minorities in India's public educational institutions, the growing number of suicides due to ragging, and the accountability of the State mechanism. .KIIT student death: Need to reform UGC and BCI guidelines to strengthen institutional accountability.Ragging on the riseThis month, after five students at Kottayam's Government Nursing College were arrested for allegedly ragging juniors, a disturbing video surfaced showing a student being tortured. It underlined the prevalence of ragging-related crimes in many campuses despite legal liabilities and the Supreme Court’s guidelines. In another incident earlier this month, a 15-year-old schoolboy in Kochi committed suicide allegedly due to relentless “ragging and bullying”. Beyond the horrific nature of the crime recorded in both incidents, the operational callousness of the authorities is deeply troubling, though not unusual. In the first incident, the details of the chilling nature of the crime were unveiled when three first-year students of the institution registered a police complaint. What was initially treated by the authorities as a dispute between juniors and seniors turned out to be an act of ragging that had reportedly been going on for three months..Beyond the horrific nature of the crime recorded in both incidents, the operational callousness of the authorities is deeply troubling, though not unusual..A similar incident was reported in November 2023, when a 17-year-old boy died due to ragging in West Bengal’s Jadavpur University. That same month, in Tamil Nadu a second-year undergraduate was left brutalised for refusing to give money to his seniors. A recent report by Indian Express showed a sharp spike in ragging complaints lodged through a dedicated helpline set up in 2009 by the University Grant Commission. (UGC). While records accessed under the Right to Information Act show 78 students named under "List of the suicide/death cases alleged due to ragging” in the period between January 2012 and October 2023, there are substantial reasons to believe that there might be more to this story. Over a decade, the UGC helpline logged over 8000 ragging complaints, with records showing a 208 per cent surge from 2012 to 2022: from 358 in 2012 to a peak of 1115 right before the pandemic, to 1103 in 2022, and 756 till October 2023. Most ragging complaints in this period were reported from Uttar Pradesh (1202), followed by Madhya Pradesh (795), West Bengal (728), Odisha (517), Bihar (476), and Maharashtra (393). .UGC has formed expert committee against caste discrimination in higher educational institutions, Union government tells Parliament.Weak enforcement of anti-ragging guidelines by the UGCThe story is more complicated as we understand the gaps in the regulatory process and implementation failure by the respective parties. Under Clause 9.4 of its anti-ragging regulations, the UGC can take actions against colleges that do not adequately prevent ragging. However, in response to an RTI query, UGC stated that such mechanisms are not yet invoked against any college since the helpline’s setting up in 2009. UGC's regulations also state that students must submit affidavits every academic year, committing, on record, that they will not indulge in any act of ragging. However, Indian Express’s report shows that only 4.49 percent students submitted these affidavits across their academic courses..However, in response to an RTI query, UGC stated that such mechanisms are not yet invoked against any college since the helpline’s setting up in 2009..The UGC Chairman, M Jagadesh Kumar, has acknowledged that the weak implementation of anti-ragging regulations within institutions might have given a free pass to the perpetrators. However, he added that, on average, 50% of complaints received on the ant-ragging helpline are resolved within seven working days. On the other hand, the authorities in most colleges argued that most of the recorded complaints are usually “random complaints and scuffles” between students who “prefer the helpline because it ensures anonymity.” In Kochi, the authorities have stuck to this playbook - refusing to even admit any probable ragging at the institution. While the UGC Chairman acknowledged that most cases are resolved within the institutions, it must be noted that several institutions have been alleged of covering up ragging incidents to preserve institutional reputation. According to Meera Kaura Patel, the honorary legal head of the Society Against Violence in Education, anti-ragging committees in educational institutions are often not properly constituted and do not have the mandatory representatives from non-profits, civil society, and police administration. .Uttarakhand High Court takes strict view of ragging incident at Haldwani medical college.In 2009, the Supreme Court issued a set of detailed guidelines following the death of Aman Kachroo, a 19-year-old medical student. Although 15 years have elapsed since then, there is an implementational failure by the state machinery, leading to an exponential increase in ragging-related crimes in educational institutions. A wide range of provisions under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Prohibition of Ragging Act (2011), and various state legislations also impose legal liabilities for ragging. Why, then, despite a full-fledged legal regime in place, are there no visible changes in the number of recorded crimes?Structures of discriminationApart from clear implementational failures, underlying structural issues play a crucial role. Speaking to the Indian Express, the UGC Chairman drew a clear correlation between increasing incidents of ragging and 'misconceptions about peer pressure'. However, this articulation misses a fundamental, recurring element associated with the crime of ragging: reinforcement of hierarchical power structures and the marginality of identities of gender, caste, and class. .Why, then, despite a full-fledged legal regime in place, are there no visible changes in the number of recorded crimes?.Discrimination on Indian educational campuses has been historically prevalent. Caste-based discrimination in Indian society permeates into campus spaces. The anti-Mandal movement in the 1990s brought the discourse of caste into student movements and substantially changed Indian political scenario. However, by the 1970s, Dalit activism had already begun to shimmer in Osmania University in Hyderabad. Not many years ago Rohit Vemula’s death, brought to the fore multiple concerns about the systemic discrimination perpetuated by Indian public educational institutions and the unaccountable justice system thereof. In January 2025, after Senior Advocate Indira Jaising and Advocate Disha Wadekar stressed the UGC’s failure to implement its 2012 regulation to curb caste discrimination, the Supreme Court sought data from the UGC on the number of Equal Opportunity Cells established, and the complaints received.In terms of gender-based discrimination, in the recent past, the MeToo and Pinjra Tod movements have acquired a certain amount of traction in the political discourse due to the systemic repression faced by the state machinery. Their suppression, over time, however, has been unfortunate. .Activists condemn the arrest of Pinjra Tod members- Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal.Data on ragging cases is either not available due to the lack of documentation by respective authorities or hesitation by the victim to report such incidents because of peer pressure, social stigma, and psychological trauma attached to such incidents. The only available data pertains to incidents where either death or serious physical and psychological trauma has already occurred or the media has taken interest. In 2009, the Supreme Court ordered a study of the prevalence, causes, and solutions to the ragging menace in universities. But no further study was conducted by the UGC on increasing cases of ragging-based violence in campuses, particularly as it suddenly spiked before the pandemic. .Data on ragging cases is either not available due to the lack of documentation by respective authorities or hesitation by the victim to report such incidents because of peer pressure, social stigma, and psychological trauma attached to such incidents..The Court's guidelines also mandated the formation of Anti-Ragging Squads to conduct inspections and maintain records of ragging-related instances. However, the UGC has stated that it does not maintain any data regarding the actions taken by such squads. In a country where the idea of an Anti-Romeo Squad to morally police intimate relationships was widely applauded by State authorities, there has been little motivation towards anti-ragging squads, or in maintaining data on ragging-related crimes.Ragging-related crimes have institutionalised themselves in India’s universities. The culpability of the institutional authorities and the legal regime lies not only in their complacency towards curb such instances but also in their complicity, particularly in retaining the power structures that these crimes perpetuate. While the institutions of the state have gradually acquiesced to the notion of substantive equality, the unequal power structures are still prominent in their conduct today. The failure to take effective mechanisms to address ragging-related crimes is indicative of a parochial understanding of equality and non-discrimination that the institutions of the state inhabit..The ideological challenge to public education.The role of public educational institutions is equally pertinent here. While lack of transparency and accountability contributes substantially to identifying such issues in the first place, reform within these spaces is equally crucial. Article 15 of the Constitution prohibits all forms of discrimination practised on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth, or any of them. Article 16 encourages the State and its institutions to make active provisions for the upliftment of the backward sections. When educational institutions and the State become complacent spectators of such crimes, the Constitution’s essence as document for social transformation is lost.

A fair ordeal: Discrimination, State accountability and the menace of ragging in Indian educational institutions

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