New Delhi: It’s supposed to be Valentine’s week but we have news that is morally reprehensible, grotesque, and utterly unsavoury. Five third-year students of a reputed government medical nursing college in Kottayam were arrested over their brutal assault on first-year students. It was not a one-off incident but a regular happening in the premises, alleged junior students, who were putting up with the harassment since October 2024 (when the college began). And it was not just physical torture that the juniors were subjected to but were also allegedly coerced into paying for “liquor for their seniors” every week. Arrests have since been made, seniors have been expelled, the viral video clip has been seized, corrective measures are in place. But why are these horrific cases allowed to happen within institutions? Is it a matter of policy decisions that have gone horribly wrong, or is there an abject lack of administration in campuses across the country? The jury is still out on such inquiries but it has been evidenced that most number of ragging cases have been reported from medical colleges.

No sooner had this news from Kottayam arrived, there is another one from another part in the state. This time the ragging involved class 12 students who beat up their junior so bad that he has a fractured hand. Five students have also been booked for allegedly assaulting this junior at a higher secondary school in Kannur, according to the state police. According to them they harassed the junior for “not respecting seniors” on February 12.

While investigation is still on for both the cases, and ragging inside every institution must not go unpunished, we are also noticing a disturbing trend that is developing in the country. One, there is a demographic tilt towards maximum ragging incidents being reported from down South in the last decade. Two, most of these ragging cases have........

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