Gujarat High Court calls for stricter enforcement of anti-ragging laws; says blame on colleges, not students

The Gujarat High Court on October 10, Tuesday, observed that laws against ragging were comprehensive and deterrent and that the only need is for the State government and the educational institutions to strictly implement them [Suo Motu PIL vs State of Gujarat]..A division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee added that every incident of ragging must be treated as a dereliction on the part of the educational institution instead of treating young students as criminals..These institutions must be held responsible as they cannot shut their eyes, the Court said.."More important is the sensitisation of students. We are going to deal with students between the age group of 18 years to 20 years. We cannot make them criminal. It is our duty to sensitise them that they do not indulge in such acts and thus the educational institutions are duty-bound to do this," the Chief Justice further observed..The bench pointed out that anti-ragging laws were deterrent and comprehensive enough to take care of the situation."The laws are deterrent and comprehensive. The only need is to implement them strictly. Even the State should communicate a word to all the educational institutions to implement the laws strictly. Just bring out a good circular with nice words stating if there is any incident you will act against the highest authority of the university," the judges suggested..The bench was hearing a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) highlighting the incidents of ragging across educational institutions in the State.It noted that even the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC) for dealing with ragging incidents and preventing the same were comprehensive and binding on all the universities in the State.The Court further observed that as per the laws, the State's education department must instruct all the institutions to ensure that the laws are implemented in letter and spirit."The only thing needed is, there should be a communication of word from the department that these regulations must be displayed on the university website, campus. Apart from this, there must be anti-ragging campaigns. Most important is a complaint box for students, who do not want their identities disclosed," the bench opined.The Court will further hear the matter on October 26.