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The Hindu
13-07-2025
- The Hindu
Body shaming, forcing liquor and drugs, online ragging made punishable in Kerala draft anti-ragging bill
Body shaming, asking a student to do any act or perform something, which he/she will not do in the ordinary course and forcing a fresher to use tobacco, liquor and prohibited/scheduled narcotic substances will be deemed as an act of ragging, according to a draft bill being considered by the Kerala government. The draft bill, the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging (Amendment) Bill, has also brought 'any form of ragging committed through the internet or in any digital mode' under the ambit of the criminal act of ragging for which severe punishment has been prescribed. Ragging including any form of ragging committed through internet or digital mode shall be a cognizable offence. The drat Bill, while amending some of the key provisions of the principal act, Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act, has widened its ambit to cover all the educational institutions including universities, deemed to be university, including teaching departments, higher educational institutions, schools and other institutions under general education department, elements and constituent units of such institutions, all their premises in Kerala. Also Read | Six students booked for ragging junior in Kerala's Kozhikode Teaching branches of all government departments, institutions of national importance established by an Act of Parliament, Central Universities, and all coaching and tuition centres have been brought under the definition of educational institutions. The draft legislation also covers academic and residential premises of all such institutions, besides the playgrounds, canteens located within and outside the campuses, bus stands, home stays, all means of public and private transportation facilities accessed by students for the pursuit of studies in such institutions in Kerala. A host of criminal acts committed as part of the ragging including abetment to ragging, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, rioting, public nuisance, and committing obscene and sexual acts committed while ragging will come under the ambit of the draft Bill. Causing bodily harm during the act of ragging, stripping, theft, extortion, dishonest misappropriation of property, criminal breach of trust, criminal trespass, criminal intimidation will also come under the scope of the Bill, according to the draft legislation. The State had witnessed a series of public protests following the death of J. S. Sidharthan, a 20-year-old student. He was found dead at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode, Wayanad, in February 2024, allegedly following brutal ragging. Recently, the Kerala High Court had asked the State government to provide a copy of the draft Anti-Ragging (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to the Kerala State Legal Services Authority and the University Grants Commission on a petition filed by the Authority.
New Indian Express
01-07-2025
- New Indian Express
Kerala High Court directs state government to take strict action against ragging
KOCHI: Kerala High Court has held that the state government must frame a stringent law providing severe punishment for ragging activities in educational institutions to stop the menace so that no other student loses his/her life for the unruly, rowdy conduct of the undisciplined students. The state should also make sure that the guilty are not left unpunished. Justice D K Singh also said that though the UGC anti-ragging regulations are strict, they have not deterred the unruly behaviour and conduct of the students. The regulations are not enough to curb ragging activity in its entirety. The court issued the order while disposing of a petition filed by Kanthanathan R, suspended assistant warden, and M K Narayanan, suspended dean of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode, seeking to quash the disciplinary action following the death of Sidharthan J S, a second-year student of the college, following ragging. The court said the decision of the university to keep the disciplinary proceedings in abeyance against them on the ground that the highest authority has intervened is against the scheme of the University Act and the Statutes of the University. The court made it clear that in view of the communication on September 27, 2024, by the chancellor to the vice-chancellor, the university is directed to proceed against the petitioners.
The Hindu
11-06-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Modern lab complex to be inaugurated at Mannuthy veterinary varsity
A state-of-the-art laboratory complex has been completed at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, under the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. The facility, located on the Varghese Kurien Institute of Dairy and Food Technology campus, will be officially inaugurated and dedicated to the public by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on June 16. Alongside the lab inauguration, the Chief Minister will also inaugurate a new girls' hostel and an auditorium at the Varghese Kurien Institute of Dairy and Food Technology. The ceremony will be presided over by Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development J. Chinchu Rani, while Revenue Minister K. Rajan will deliver the keynote address. University Vice-Chancellor K.S. Anil, Registrar P. Sudheer, and other dignitaries will be present. Constructed with a financial outlay of ₹32 crore under the NABARD RIDF (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund) scheme, the 45,000 sq. ft. lab is equipped for advanced research, testing, and training in disease prevention, health, and food safety. The lab will offer a wide range of services under one roof, including diagnosis of various diseases, testing of food and drinking water samples, analysis of animal feed quality, and assessment of mineral content in soil — services already provided by the university. In response to the growing number of female students — who now constitute 70% of the university's student body — a new hostel with 17 rooms and a total area of 10,000 sq. ft. has also been constructed, with the first floor now ready for occupancy.
