India outlaws 'ragging' of freshers

India's Supreme Court has banned 'ragging' - perverse and often violent initiation rituals freshers are subjected to in colleges - branding it a human rights abuse which has gone unpunished for far too long.

In a landmark order, an apex court bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice Mukundakam Sharma ordered college authorities to immediately suspend perpetrators and made it obligatory for the police to arrest and prosecute them under criminal laws.

The judges also ruled that educational institutions that failed to stamp out ragging would lose their funding and university affiliation.

'Seniors violating the human rights of freshers must be treated as criminals. There is no room for leniency,' the judges warned, approving anti-ragging measures drawn up by a court-appointed committee headed by R.K. Raghavan, former chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The committee was instituted after an NGO petitioned the court to stop the rampant mental, physical and sexual harassment of first-year students across India. The affidavit cited several cases of victims who had killed themselves because they were unable to bear the humiliation.

The NGO said some newcomers were mercilessly assaulted and even forced to have sex. Many were ordered to drink urine and alcohol or perform dangerous physical exercises to 'break the ice'.

'If college authorities are prima facie convinced that any senior has ragged a fresher, he must be suspended right away from the college and hostel. Any delay in taking action encourages criminal acts. The accused can have their say when complaints against them are investigated', the judges said.