Rag and be expelled: UGC lays down the law

New Delhi: Mohammad Wasim was brutally beaten with iron rods just because he went and complained about ragging.

A student of Dehradun Institute of Technology in Greater Noida protested when asked to strip and went to the college authorities. And when his seniors came to know, they thrashed him.

On Wednesday, just a day after Wasim's attack, the University Grants Commission finally came out with stringent regulations to curb ragging.

UGC's Anti-Ragging Guidelines

• Parents, students have to sign undertaking
• Expulsion, fine upto Rs 2.5 lakh
• Institutions can lose UGC grant
• Toll free helpline across the country
  

Parents and students who want admission in UGC colleges will have to sign an undertaking -which says that they are aware of laws against  ragging and are ready to be penalised if found guilty.

Guilty Students could be expelled and pay a fine upto 2.5 lakh rupees. Institutions which do not adhere may lose their grant or affiliation to UGC. The commission will set up a toll free helpline for students across the country.

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But what about colleges that do not depend on UGC for money?

Professor Rajendra Kachroo's son Aman was beaten to death by his seniors at a medical college in Himachal Pradesh.

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"They are making a mockery out of this. This will not work since no one company can collate 3 lakh digitised ragging information into one space. The company they have given the responsibility to does not have the infrastructure to handle such calls," said Rajendra Kachroo, father of Aman Kachroo, a ragging victim.

The Raghavan Committee had asked the UGC to form a council with representatives from medical and engineering colleges, since most incidents are reported from there. But the UGC has not done so yet. This could be one of the reasons why they may fail to curb ragging this year as well.