EXTERMINATE THE FANGS OF RAGGING!

Kajal Chaterjee

After seeing off our 18-year-old son at the airport or railway station; as we enter our home, a huge vacuum seems to engulf us! Though engaged in official or domestic work, still the subsequent 3-4 days get spent in a state of numbness as if nothing exists in the world; though we know that our son is well and safe and we would again meet after 3-4 months! 

 

In contrast that17-year-old boy would never ever return to the laps of his hapless parents! Neither natural causes of cancer nor a stroke of thunderbolt which are almost unavoidable; rather the boy has met absolute artificial man-made death, rather turned victim of a cold-blooded murder(compelling somebody to take suicidal steps is also nothing but murder in every practical sense)! 

 

Did the parents of the hapless boy raise their child with a lot of love and sacrifice to send him to "gallows" i.e. hostel of an "ELITE" Kolkata University,  where his dream and flame of life can be extinguished brutally by the merchants of death or sponsors of ragging! 

 

Today as the father of an 18-year-old son, I can understand what a razing storm is blowing through the devastated hearts of the parents of the boy who got brutally crushed at the bud itself ! 

 

It is a high time stern question that needs to be asked - - - Do the parents admit their children to the colleges to get physically abused by the uncivilized brute "brilliant" students who form the "future of the society"? The menace of ragging is indeed increasing by leaps and bounds from the hostels of the IITs to reputed Universities. However, it is natural because far from awarding severe punishments to the offenders, they actually escape scotfree on most occasions. This is the very reason why the vulgar lot continue to torture innocent juniors without a bit of hesitation. Ragging not only physically endangers the victim, but also leaves a permanent mark on his/her psyche also. Their career also gets nipped in the bud. Less said about the agony of the parents and economic losses of the less privileged families the better who send their children to institutions with a lot of hope and financial hardship.

 

Mere setting up of an inquiry committee immediately after a fatal incident is not going to put an end to the menace named ragging. The self-appointed guardians of "acclimatising the juniors with college culture" should be awarded exemplary punishment so that they think twice before indulging in cowardice called ragging. Senior students indulging in ragging their juniors should be expelled from the institute concerned and also barred from enrolling in any other educational institution in the country. In cases where the victim succumbs to injuries or commits suicide, those found guilty should be handed life imprisonment till death or straightway despatched to the gallows. 

 

 Also the Superintendent of the hostel or the Principal of the college(depending upon the site of ragging) should be punished for failing to rein in this barbaric menace continuing for decades. 

 

 The rise in incidents of ragging has exposed the flaws in our education system, which might be successful in churning out academically brilliant students, but has failed to inculcate the right values in them. Educationists and policy makers should now think of providing stress on value-based, instead of career-based education.

 

The upcoming generation forms the backbone of the nation. They are our future. If the cowardly section of them gets allowed to flex their barbaric muscle upon the weaker lot and the other section i.e. the victims continue to be administered irrecoverable psychological setbacks, often compelling them to take their own lives; Mother India would be the ultimate loser at the end of the day !

 

When will India get freedom from the dark fangs of Ragging! How can the upcoming generation walk with a fearless mind and head held high with such an immoral spine or shattered psyche!