Prior to the case of Dr. Payal Tadvi’s suicide, the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) has investigated seven cases of ragging since March 2018. According to MUHS registrar Dr. Kalidas Chavan, action was initiated against a student in one case, while the six other cases could not be proven.
“Dr. Payal Tadvi’s suicide case is the eight case that has come to us since March 2018,” said Dr. Chavan, who is part of the four-member committee formed by the State to re-investigate Tadvi’s case and review the Maharashtra Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1999.
The Act
The legislation, formulated to prohibit ragging in educational institutions in the State, defines ragging as “display of disorderly conduct, doing of any act which causes or is likely to cause physical or psychological harm or raise apprehension or fear or shame or embarrassment to a student in any educational institution.”
It further includes teasing, abusing, threatening or playing practical jokes on, or causing hurt to, a student, and asking a student to do any act or perform something which the student will not willingly do in ordinary course.
Penalty and punishment
According to Dr. Chavan, the Act calls for investigation of such complaints at the institution level. The inquiry report is then sent to the MUHS, which in turn appoints a committee to look into the report and decide the course of action and punishment. “An FIR is filed in case of severe complaints,” Dr. Chavan said.
The University Grants Commission guidelines, however, say it is mandatory to file an FIR in all ragging complaints.
A person accused under the anti-ragging Act can face imprisonment for up to two years and is also liable to a fine up to ₹10,000. Once convicted, the accused is dismissed from the institution and cannot be admitted to any other educational institution for five years from the date of dismissal.
The Act also says that if the head of the educational institution fails to take action on the complaint, he or she can be held liable for abetting the offence.
