In a shocking incident of alleged ragging in Pune, a second year student of Deccan Education Society Law College committed suicide on Sunday after allegedly facing harassment by a group of students of the same college.
22 year-old Prashant Chitalkar ended his life by jumping into a well near his home in Rahuri Taluk, Ahmednagar.
The police have so far booked ten students, out of whom four have been identified by the father of the deceased and complainant in the case under the Anti-Ragging Act.
Bandopant Chitalkar, who is a police havaldar by profession, stated in his complaint that his son committed suicide following sustained mental torture by the youths.
According to the complaint, Prashant was told by students that his father earned money through corrupt means. The family members of the victim informed the media that Prashant attempted suicide earlier too but the matter was not reported then because they had feared adverse repercussions.
Meanwhile, the college authorities have ordered the constitution of a fact-finding committee to probe into the allegation and only after receiving a report within 48-hours will they take action against the students found guilty.
Such events of ragging are blotches on the civil liberty mandates of our state and not enough attempts are made to plug the existing lacunae.
We offer our condolences to the bereaved family of Prashant and the others who have lost their dear and near ones to such mindless acts of ragging.
Isn’t it time to question those involved and at least try to remedy the situation?
Less than three months ago a Nalsar Hyderabad student was also believed to have killed himself after jumping to his death. [Note: this does not appear to have been related to ragging.]
In a Legally India forum discussion readers have generally said that ragging was not common in law schools.
Do you think that budding lawyers are nicer to each other than the engineers of 3 Idiots or other professions?
Comments
I understand this blog is about the secret shadow of ragging plaguing our colleges, but good parenting can correct many wrongs.
Please refrain from alluding such unbased enunciations.
However, ultimately it just meant to point out that law student suicides appear alarmingly common place.
Have there ever been any organised programmes to look into the causes of student suicides?
Are on campus counsellors or student support groups available at any colleges?
Or do you think it's a wider problem that is not possible to deal with at that level?
The complaint is of ragging and 10 students have been booked for ragging. How can you say its not a case of ragging. Do you have any information to suggest otherwise?
[I think #2 was referring to the Nalsar suicide. -Ed]
1. Suicides must be high in law schools but low per college. I am sure, like NALSAR, everywhere the cause is investigated into.
2. NALSAR has on campus counsellors and enough student body initiatives to take care of students needs. Further, all teachers are approachable and do their bit to make us feel at home.
3. Suicides are sad and unfortunate. But there doesn't seem to be any general tendency which is common to all. I am sure, again like NALSAR, initiatives are being taken to curb ragging. No college would like to have it on campus. Colleges are not really slack. But you can't expect the squad to be present everywhere!
If a student is suffering from a mental illness like clinical depression(yes depression is an illness and no people suffering from depression are not cuckoo) or bi-polar disorder,a qualified counsellor can offer much better help than a proffesor who probably doesn't even believe that mental illnesses exsist.
we must spread awareness about mental health and mental illness