POST NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi, June 10: University Grants Commission (UGC) has received the maximum number of complaints of ragging against Rourkela’s Biju Patnaik University of Technology in the year 2013, followed by Bhopal’s Maulana Azad Institute of Technology. UGC received 640 complaints of ragging in 2013. In 2014, the number fell to 543, said an official.
Unfortunately, only a few of these cases were converted into police complaints. In 2013, only nine first information reports (FIR) were lodged with the police, whereas in 2014, it was 57, said a source. Interestingly, out of 1,183 complaints reported to UGC, (in the two years) FIRs were lodged in only 66 cases.
The Supreme Court-appointed committee led by former CBI director RK Raghavan declared ragging a criminal offence. In 2009, following a judgment by the apex court, UGC set up a central crisis hotline and an anti-ragging database. UGC guidelines now make it mandatory for education institutions to register an FIR within 24 hours of a ragging complaint. Nearly 45,000 institutes around the country have implemented similar measures.
However, in spite of the change in law and the massive awareness campaign, ragging is a menace, which continues to trouble higher learning in India.
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