Trigger Warning: Suicide
Ragging is one of the major problems faced by students in India. Cases of ragging have been reported from educational institutions located in almost every part of the country and such cases have had adverse impacts on students. Some of the students lost their physical and emotional confidence whereas others have even ended up resorting to suicide.
One such case was recently reported at Madurai where two students of a private arts and science college committed suicide by consuming poison. According to a report, they attempted suicide after being ragged on March 2, following which they were hospitalised. While one of them died on the same day, the other succumbed on the night of March 15, the police said. The police are on the lookout for Jaisakthi, another student who allegedly ragged the students. It was also alleged that both the students were in a relationship and were ragged because of their sexuality.
In the past, ragging was considered a tradition in most of the educational institutions across the country. While it is now recognised as a punishable offence, many still take part in this practice, because of the lack of sensitization of the student body and lenient policy implementation by colleges.
According to the results of a survey conducted by a committee of mental health and public health professionals, some students still believe that ragging helps in building bonds, amplifying self-confidence and enables them to get help from seniors and eventually makes them stronger. The report also said that some of the teachers and the staff privately supported ragging. They believe that the issue had been exaggerated. According to them, ragging has its own benefits and they also talk about how they themselves enjoyed being ragged as students and encouraged their children to participate in it. Additionally, they state that “acceptable” ragging should be allowed.
The report also underscores that anxieties about proving “manliness” and sexuality readily play into ragging practices. Male heterosexuality has conventionally been associated with a certain set of qualities like aggression, dominance and assertion. As a result, male students use ragging as a means to showcase their masculinity and hide their insecurities. They do it often by resorting to name-calling, threats, taunts, etc. Some of them also resort to violent acts such as hitting, spitting and kicking, in order to prove their strength.
Additionally, it has been seen that educational institutions in our country don’t put in much effort to deal with ragging. The fear of loss of reputation prevents them from filing these cases, because of which most go unreported.
English print media reports, compiled by the Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE), state that there were 717 cases of ragging from 2007-13, which saw 71 deaths, 30 attempted suicides, 199 cases of injuries (81 of which led to permanent disability) and 128 cases involving sexual abuse.
While the data deals with the cases of ragging until the year 2013, it has been observed that cases of ragging have emerged from different corners of the country in the last five years as well. The case of a student being injured and manhandled by seniors in Kerala in 2018, and the case of ragging in Udaipur reported in 2019, where nursing students were forced to drink and dance naked are some startling examples which tell us that ragging is not something which should be normalised. Thus, a guarantee that strict action is taken against students who rag their juniors is the need of the hour.
Seniors in most educational institutions consider ragging to be their right. They believe that it is the duty of the juniors to ‘obey’ their orders. This attitude of a display of dominance over juniors is further propagated by various means in popular culture, including Bollywood.
With a rise in the popularity of these mediums, the idea of colleges being conventionally at peace with the concept of ragging has made its way into more minds. This has further contributed to the culture of ragging, by making it look more appealing to the younger generations. For example, a scene from the movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai that displays the act of ragging portrays it as not something objectionable or harmful, but as a chance for the viewer to meet their potential life partner. The portrayal of ragging as an act with positive returns is what makes it more attractive.
In addition to this, movies like Munna Bhai MBBS, and 3 Idiots have shown ragging as an activity which is enjoyed by both juniors and seniors and is meant to be taken in light humour. It is not considered to be an offence in these movies and nobody raises their voice against this practice. The movies also propagate the idea that seniors will continue torturing the juniors if they don’t obey their orders.
Alongside Bollywood’s contribution to reiterating the skewed idea of ragging, our society is also doing its bit in contributing towards the beliefs propagated by such movies. Whenever a student begins their life at college, their close relatives narrate their experiences and talk about how they were ragged during their college days. They further add that such practices constitute the enjoyable moments of college life. While family members are busy teaching their children to endure ragging, nobody talks about resisting or reporting such cases.
Our society is slowly waking up to the seriousness of ragging and it is now considered equivalent to crime. Legal action is also taken against students who rag their juniors.
While this is a small step towards eliminating ragging from all institutions, we need to realise that there is still a long way to go to free our institutions of ragging. There is a need to create awareness about its impacts and the psychology behind it. Students must be encouraged to report such cases and educational institutions also need to lay down stringent rules to ensure that no one is ragged. It is only by taking strict action that we can successfully curb this practice.