Ragging: SC for immediate suspension of guilty students

The Supreme Court sent out a loud and clear message to students who rag colleagues and said that if they are prima facie found guilty they would be immediately suspended from their institution.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sent out a loud and clear message to students who rag colleagues and said that if they are prima facie found guilty they would be immediately suspended from their institution.

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The apex court fastened the responsibility of acting against culprits on their respective educational institutes and said it would be "binding" on them to use an iron hand to end the menace.

The court said educational institutions will have to take "urgent action" on receiving information on incidents of ragging and "if a student is prima facie found guilty of indulging in ragging he/she would be immediately suspended pending the inquiry".

Further, it said that all educational institutions in their admission prospectus should carry instructions with regard to ragging and clearly indicate that those indulging in it could face strict action.

The directions to check ragging were based on the recommendations made by an apex court-appointed committee, headed by former CBI Director R K Raghavan, and were delivered by a Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and M K Sharma, which accepted its report.

The Bench asked state governments and Union Territories to act in terms of guidelines recommended by the committee to end the menace of ragging in educational institutions across the country.