New Delhi: Recently a new case of ragging in a DU college has come into light. This time in the form of a series of videos. The longest of these, titled ?DU' (the rest are ?DU ragging'), is about nine minutes long.
A boy wielding a cricket stump smacks around two terrified freshers, makes them dance, speak in Hindi and lick each other's bodies while the rest, entertained by this fatuous performance, film it.
Over 27,000 have stopped by this video since it was posted in August 2010 but if TheAlok109, who posted the series, was expecting viewers to also be entertained, he was wrong. Ragging isn't funny anymore.
Most of the 17 comments ask for the videos to be removed. "Plz sari videos delete kar de yar. Hamara carrier khtam ho jaega (Please delete all videos. They'll finish our careers)," pleads one; another threatens to file a case.
What is startling about the alleged violence at Satyawati College (evening) on Tuesday is that DU is not really known for the harshest ragging. The last time any student got punished was in 2009.
The joint control room on North Campus has got no complaint since colleges reopened on July 21, and Rajendra Kachroo, who heads UGC's anti-ragging helpline, says there have been no complaints from DU in years. "Last year we had a complaint from Delhi. But it wasn't from DU."
Rohit Chahal, whose group, ABVP, ran an anti-ragging campaign last week, says, "Minor incidents happen but kids are usually too scared to report." Unless seniors, displaying spectacular levels of imprudence and impunity, post their act on YouTube, the matter rests there.
"DU's compliance with anti-ragging regulations is low," says Kachroo. "The colleges follow the basic directives without understanding them." "The affidavit was meant to create a database for raising awareness in the long run but the colleges haven't. People are spending on notaries and stamp paper where none is required.
Some students are filling in their details online and taking prints but the DU is not pushing this either."
"There should an anti-ragging panel and a squad. Few colleges form squads," says Tanvir Aeijaz, teacher at Ramjas and consultant for Raghavan Committee. "Not implementing the recommendations of the committee is a violation of the law."
Satyawati authorities had said their anti-ragging squad can't be everywhere at the same time but Kachroo lays the blame on the college since police aren't allowed inside.
"There are CCTVs and there are monitors in principals' rooms but the camera don't cover every part of college?all gates, rooms and corridors." There is ragging of students from the northeast mostly in the form of comments and teasing. And they go unreported
AISA will have a march on North Campus on Friday.
