College students stage a drama on anti-ragging campaign (file picture)

Balangir, July 7: A camp to sensitise students against ragging, which has become a major problem, was organised here.

More than a hundred students participated at the anti-ragging awareness camp, jointly organised by Sushree Institute of Technical Education (Site) and District Legal Aids Services Authority today.

With the new session just about to begin in various technical institutes, it was a welcome initiative to organise an anti-ragging camp. Experts threw light on various aspects of ragging and asked the students to keep away from such an inhumane practice.

Jayakrishna Sahu, a lawyer of Balangir District Bar said that ragging was a colonial legacy and didn’t belong to Indian culture and tradition. “We have inherited it from the British people. It is a colonial legacy that doesn’t belong to our culture and tradition. Ironically, Europeans and Americans have already given up the practice long back, but we Indians still stick to this inhumane practice that not only meant to physically and mentally torture young students but at times take lives,” he said.

Sahu said that there was need of central law to be enacted by parliament to curb such practice, which has not come up yet. “We need a stringent central law to be enacted by the parliament against ragging which sadly has not come up yet,” said the lawyer.

He said that there were only four states in India, namely Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharastra and Bengal, where law against ragging exists. “There are only four states where there are laws against ragging. Orissa still doesn’t have any law against ragging. But there are official guidelines of the government of Orissa that bans ragging in institutions. Ragging has also been considered a cognisable offence and no objection certificate of institution can be cancelled,” said Sahu.

“The Supreme Court and the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued set of guidelines against ragging,” the lawyer said. In the past seven years, between 2004 and 2010, at least 24 students have lost their lives due to ragging. “Some of them were victims of the brutal act of physical torture while others committed suicide. Several suffered physical and mental torture and also sustained physical injury,” he added.

Site secretary Srikar Mishra called upon students of his institutions to put an end to such inhumane and immoral practices. “I hope the students of the Sushree group of institutions will set an example by giving up ragging. Let’s bid goodbye to such practices and concentrate more on study,” Mishra said.

Civil judges Ranjan Ray and Niranjan Pratihari, Balangir sub-divisional police officer Balabhadra Deep and inspector of Balangir Sadar police station, Srimant Barik, spoke on the occasion.