IITs have been known to produce role models in the country. But the IIT, Kharagpur has the dubious distinction of producing a student, who has become a benchmark for others to flout the laws against ragging on the campus.Let off
Raviraj Singh, who made headlines for making the MMS of one of his classmates at the Delhi Public School, was let off by the country's top technology school for posting it online to make money without any serious punishment. Singh had been arrested by the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police for posting the nude MMS on the Web.
After a year of his arrest, Singh was re-inducted into the Institute and managed to secure a job with Schlumberger, a multinational oil drilling company on a hefty pay package in 2006.
Bad precedent
Though Singh went on to enjoy the riches, it set off a bad precedent at the Institute. The 'lenient' treatment meted out to Singh has made the senior students fearless as they are indulging in ragging their juniors, flouting the law openly. "Senior students say that when Raviraj can be let off for doing such pervert things, how can we be punished for a minor issue like ragging," a female student of the IIT Kharagpur told MiD DAY over the phone.
"They threaten us against going to the authorities," she added.
Harassing juniors
"Senior students have been asking first year students, which includes our daughter, who lives in the Sarojini Naidu hostel for girls in the IIT, Kharagpur, to mug up the name of all the 500 seniors and failing which she would be given severe punishment," said the father of a student, who feared that his daughter would be victimized if she complains against the senior students.
"Senior girls do not even allow them to take their meals properly and are harassing them in all possible ways," alleged the father of the student.
Ragging-free campus
The IIT, Kharagpur director Damodaran Acharya denied that ragging is going on at such scale, saying that the institute is taking every possible action to stop ragging on the campus.
"We do not let senior students interact much with their juniors during the initial period of their induction in the institute. We don't think that such activities are happening in the college. Even if they are happening, they
must be at a very minor scale."
Acharya assured that the institute would take all possible steps to stop ragging of any form, if at all it is happening.
Lawless environment
> Raviraj Singh, who made headlines for making the MMS of his classmates at the Delhi Public School, had been arrested by the economic offences wing of the Delhi Police for posting the nude MMS on the Web
> After a year of his arrest, Singh was re-inducted into the Institute and managed to secure a job with Schlumberger, a multinational oil drilling company
> The 'lenient' treatment meted out to Singh has made the senior students fearless and they are indulging in ragging their juniors
> Seniors say that they can't be punished for a minor issue like ragging
