Minto Hostel boarders spend time together on campus in Patna. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, July 24: Senior boarders of Patna University (PU) hostels have taken the lead to prevent campus chaos this year. Some of them at Minto Hostel have come up with rules and regulations to instil a sense of discipline among the juniors and prevent incidents of ragging, eve-teasing and group clash.

Prabhat Kumar, a third-year political science student and prefect of Minto Hostel, said: “The new regulations have been introduced to inculcate discipline among the boarders of the hostel. Minto Hostel has lost its reputation in the past few years. Time and again, they are accused of misbehaviour. This gives a bad reputation to the hostel and its boarders.”

The juniors have been directed to take bath early in the day before their seniors, keep the hostel campus neat and clean, to be respectful towards seniors and teachers and keep away from vandalising the campus. They have also been asked to read newspapers to improve their general knowledge.

Sources said the new directions for juniors could not be termed as ragging. These could be a little difficult for the students to begin with but would ultimately help in building their character.

Sanskar Sigriwal, another boarder and a second-year student of Patna College, said: “These directives cannot be termed as ragging. These are some measures introduced by our seniors to make the juniors more disciplined. Juniors have been advised to take bath early in the morning, and before the seniors. As most of the boarders take bath in open because of the dilapidated condition of the bathrooms, juniors have been asked to be decent when they take bath. The juniors have been asked to go for prayers in the morning. They have also been advised to behave politely with the ward servant.”

In their effort to make students academically stronger, the seniors have advised the freshers to read both English and Hindi newspapers.

Gunjan Kumar, another boarder of the hostel, said: “To cultivate the habit of reading newspaper among the juniors, we have planned to organise quiz and group discussion once all the first-year students are allotted rooms.”

As encouragement to the juniors, the seniors have decided to reward them with prizes such as pens, chocolates and notebooks.

Freshers not abiding by the rules would not be penalised, though. The seniors would counsel and convince them.

A number of unpleasant incidents have marred the start of the session at Patna College this year.

On June 21, Mithun Kumar Singh, a geography department first-year student, was allegedly beaten up by second-year students. Eyewitnesses said it was an incident of ragging.

The next day, a group of students bashed up a boy on the campus, who they suspected to be an eve-teaser. When the girl, who was with the boy, protested, they assaulted her as well.