M A I N   N E W S

After seven yrs, ragging accused gets 7-year RI
Lalit Mohan
Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, August 30
Additional District and Sessions judge, Kangra, Rajiv Bharadwaj today sentenced four accused in ragging-death case of Amit Thakur, a student of Vikram Batra Government College, Palampur, to 7 years imprisonment.

The four accused include Vikas Chauhan, Sachin Paul, Saurabh and Gaurav Sood. Fifth accused Sanjeev Sharma was transferd to juvenile court as at the time of the ragging death he was a juvenile.

While Aman Kachroo case made headlines across the country, father of Amit Thakur, who was stabled to death in September 2003, had been awaiting justice for the past seven years. To add to his agony, the accused in the case were on bail. The recent judgment of the high court in Aman Kachroo case had kindled hope in Amit.’s father.

Amit was stabbed by the accused when he tried to stop them from ragging junior students. He was referred to Ludhiana hospital, where he eventually died. The police registered a case of murder. The case has been going on for the past seven years.

After the high court cancelled the bail of accused in Aman Kachroo case, Amit’s father Ravinder Thakur had alleged that, since he was a poor person, he could not move an appeal against the bail granted to the accused in his son’s murder case.

Ravinder had started contacting lawyers to pursue the case of his son. He has also appreciated the steps being taken by the government to curb menace of ragging after Aman Kachroo death case. The ragging has taken life and destroyed careers of many brilliant students. However, there cases have remained unreported.

The government should adopt zero-tolerance approach towards the ragging menace, he said. States have been ignoring the Raghavan Committee Recommendations that were accepted by the Supreme Court in 2007.

Committee Recommendations that were accepted by the Supreme Court in 2007. The major recommendations of the committee were that central regulatory bodies should take ragging situation as an important factor in accreditation of the education institutions.

The committee had also recommended that anti-ragging cells should be established at central, state and college level and toll free helpline should be provided for ragging victims. Strong law against ragging with responsibility to prove not guilty lying on the perpetrator was also recommended.

The committee had also suggested that NCERT and SCERT school books should include chapter on ragging and psychological counselling on anti-ragging and human rights should be conducted at higher secondary level. Colleges should organise interactive sessions between juniors and seniors and scattered entry of freshers and seniors should be allowed, the committee had recommended.

Though after acceptance by the Supreme Court, the recommendations were circulated to all states, very little was done to implement them. In Himachal, some of the recommendations have been implemented by the educational institutions after the Aman Kachroo case.