Universities Witness a 70% Spike in Incidents of Ragging in 2017

Photo used for representational purpose. (Photo: The Quint)

Ragging in educational institutions across the country reached an all time high in 2017, with close to 889 cases being reported so far.

This is a 70 percent increase from last year, when 515 cases were registered.

Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states with 138 cases, while Madhya Pradesh is second with 100 cases, reported Hindustan Times.

Kanpur's Government Polytechnic registered the most cases of ragging with 17 students filing individual complaints.

However, according to Rajkumar Singh, only six complaints were received by the institute this year. Of these, the anti-ragging committee suspended students in two cases, for one month.

They were allowed to resume classes following a comprehensive review along with undertakings. In most cases, students file the complaint to settle scores with other students over a feud.

As told to <i>HT</i>

The spike in ragging cases has come despite a stringent anti-ragging directions put in place by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Speaking on the spike, Raj Kachroo, founder of Aman movement which functions as a monitoring agency for the UGC said,

Students and parents feel more confident in reporting such cases now as they feel action will be taken. This is one of the major reasons behind the increase in the number of cases reported.

As told to <i>HT</i>

According to data from 2012, the Hindu Banaras University in Varanasi has the most cases in its tally, with 36 cases. It is closely followed by Madhya Pradesh’s Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, with 31 cases.

The data was provided as part of a reply by the government in the Parliament.