IT is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This truly stands correct in the case of ragging. Though ragging was intended to provide good humour and harmless fun to students, today it has assumed torturous, vulgar and inhuman forms that defy all norms of decency and morality. What began from a friendly introduction turned to disgusting and perverted overtones.
Ragging is an act of aggression committed by an individual or a group of individuals over another individual or a group of individuals and by virtue of their being senior, somehow get the authority and audacity to commit the act to the freshers of the institution. It is any act which causes, or is likely to cause, any physical, psychological or physiological harm of apprehension or shame or embarrassment to a student, and may include teasing or abusing of playing practical joke, or causing hurt to any student, asking any student to do any act or perform any thing which he/she would not otherwise be willing to do or perform.
Ragging is supposed to have its origin in certain European universities, where seniors played practical jokes at the time of welcoming freshers to institutions. Gradually, it became popular throughout the world. However, with time, it has assumed obnoxious and harmful connotations and needs to be severely condemned. Today, almost all countries of the world have enacted stern laws that ban ragging and it has been completely eradicated in countries such as Canada and Japan. But sadly, India, which inherited ragging as a legacy from the British Raj, has not been able to free itself from the clutches of this inhuman practise which is believed to be a major factor that often leads to campus violence and suicides in educational institutions. India and Sri Lanka are the only two countries in the world where ragging exists in the most condemnable form.
Ragging is not merely a socio-legal problem, it has a certain psychological basis that nurtures a sense of authority in an individual, which boosts his morale and puts him on a high by having the freshmen always at his command. Senior students believe that since they were ragged, they have the right to rag their juniors. It also gives them an opportunity to satiate their sadistic pleasures at the cost of a poor freshmen’s imagination. But not always all seniors who commit ragging enjoy doing it at their will. Seeing most of their batchmates indulging in ragging, they fear being left out and to avoid isolation, they too join the herd. Many senior students live under the misconception that ragging makes a style statement and thus will put them in the “influential crowd” of their college.
Let us examine some shocking forms of ragging. Some of the most popular forms prevalent in institutions are prescription of weird dress code which may make the freshmen feel awkward and uncomfortable as it often brings them unnecessary attention from everybody. Formal introduction as asking the freshmen to introduce themselves in pure local language. Verbal torture involves indulging in loose talks. The freshers may be asked to sing the lyrics of any vulgar song or use abusive language while talking to the seniors. Severest form of ragging that takes place in colleges is sexual abuse and the freshers are forced to try drugs thereby driving them into addiction.
In many cases, the freshers have been asked to strip before the seniors. They may be asked to enact scenes from a particular movie or mimic a particular film star, doing silly scenes, proposing to someone from the opposite sex, etc. Students who stay in hostels are most vulnerable to ragging. They may be asked to do all odd acts from cleaning the room of seniors to washing their clothes. This leads to loss of individuality and break the self-esteem of a newcomer. The fear engenders feelings of bitterness and revengefulness, which is often taken out on juniors next year.
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