Himachal begins work on anti-ragging law

DHARAMSALA: A day after medical student Aman Kachroo's post-mortem report revealed multiple fractures on the body, besides a massive head injury leading to brain haemorrhage and subsequent death, bringing back the horror of what the Gurgaon boy had to go though, an anxious Kangra administration issued notices seeking information on the death.
Additional district magistrate Sanjeev Kumar, who is conducting the probe into the horrifying ragging incident at Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda, said all efforts are on to deal with the case.
But before this one-man committee submits its report within a fortnight, education and home departments have been asked to start framing guidelines of an anti-ragging Bill. "Guidelines will be vetted by the law department and we will try and introduce the Bill in the monsoon session of the assembly this year,'' said Himachal Pradesh health minister Rajiv Bindal, who admitted that despite ragging incidents being reported from various colleges in the state from time to time, the matter has always been overlooked by successive governments for want of a law.
This came even as the Centre decided to move the Supreme Court when it opens on March 16 "to mete out exemplary punishment'' not just to the four final-year students accused of beating the 19-year-old to death, but the institute itself.
"I will take up the matter before the Supreme Court for giving exemplary punishment to Ajay Verma, Naveen Verma, Abhinav Verma and Mohit Sharma,'' said additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam in New Delhi earlier. Subramaniam cited contempt of apex court, which, terming ragging as a human rights abuse, had only last month redirected all institutions to take stringent anti-ragging measures, including filing criminal cases against erring students.
"I will seek appropriate action against the then college principal and hostel warden who can be tried or prosecuted for contempt of Supreme Court, while also pleading before it to transfer the trial of the four accused to a fast-track court,'' said Subramaniam.