Ragging rears its ugly head in DU campuses

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Despite strict anti-ragging measures in campuses, a case of ragging has been reported from the Hindu College recently. Reports suggest that a second-year Hindu College student has filed a complaint saying that he was insulted inside the college auditorium among other students.
Earlier the UGC’s anti-ragging helpline number had also received calls from students from Delhi College of Arts and Commerce and Dyal Singh College claiming that their seniors had ragged them. While the police is still searching for the students who made these calls, authorities from these colleges deny of any such incident and say it’s probably a hoax call.
Dr Vinay Kumar Srivastav, principal of Hindu College, says that there was no such case. “There was some misunderstanding,” he says, refusing to speak any further.
The freshers, however, say that although ragging happens, it’s a very hush-hush matter. “It’s just that some students don’t want to speak about it or complain against their seniors,” says a student on the condition of anonymity from a South Delhi college. “While I didn’t attend the orientation programme and the first few days of college, my friend who was regular from the first day told me that a guy was insulted in front of few other students as he was not able to introduce himself properly in English,” he adds.
Akriti Mehta, another first-year student from a North Campus college, says that seniors bully students from the Hindi medium or rural background. “Some students who come from far off villages are not able to adjust to the college environment. And these people are at the receiving end because not many feel confident enough to go and report about the wrong doing,” she says.
But the senior students have a different view altogether. Aparna Singh, a final-year student of Dyal Singh College, says that since last few years all the new entrants are made to sign an anti-ragging bond. “The students are also made aware of the anti-ragging groups and other places where they can complain. Since we have signed a bond, we also keep away from ragging. But friendly interaction happens,” she says.
Pallavi Shikhar, an ex-student of Lady Shri Ram College, says that after all the measures that have been taken to stop ragging, even seniors are scared of getting involved. “During the friendly interactions, sometimes, few students take things on a bad note and later it is termed as ragging while there is nothing serious to report in the first place,” she says.
Some names have been changed on request