PANJIM: The alleged incident of ragging reported in the boys’ hostel of Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) is apparently, the first, in last ten years. Authorities claimed that with anti-ragging cells, active across all educational institutions, Goa was marching towards becoming ‘ragging-free’ State.
The GMC Dean, Dr Shivanand Bandekar, on Wednesday rusticated four third-year MBBS students from boys’ hostel for three months for assaulting and purportedly ragging a Goan student. The action was taken following an inquiry into the incident that occurred on April 28.
The last such alleged incident had come to fore in 2012, when some engineering students were accused of ragging their junior in a bus.
“This is first case that has come to light in last ten years. The Education department and Goa University have put in collective efforts in their respective jurisdiction to ensure that there are no cases,” said a member of State level Anti-Ragging Monitoring Cell.
The State Level Anti-Ragging Monitoring Cell, headed by the Governor, holds annual meeting to take stock of the situation. Goa also has a Goa Prohibition of Ragging Act, 2008 in force, which provides the legal and regulatory mechanism to deal with the problem.
The GMC has anti-ragging squads in their campus to monitor the incidents of ragging during day and night.
Goa University has set up an Anti-Ragging Unit to conduct an on the spot enquiry into any incident of ragging referred to it. This could be reported by the head of the institution, faculty member, staff member, student, parent, guardian, employee of a service provider or by any other person, as the case may be.
A 24×7 anti-ragging helpline for students of Goa University and its affiliated colleges across the State will soon be set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and for this purpose a tender has also been floated.
