The horrific incident that unfolded in the wee hours of Thursday evening has forced us to ask this question to our readers. A kid from a small town comes to the biggest metropolis of East India to pursue his dreams. What does he get in return instead? Death! Is this a way for college seniors to introduce a freshman with an alumni? Swapnadip Kundu, a young boy from Nadia district’s Bagula suburbs, enrolled in Jadavpur University to study Bengali. His dream met with a sad demise as he was ragged and then murdered for fun. The main culprit of the incident is Sourav Chowdhury for now, a master’s degree holder in mathematics who passed out in 2022 was allegedly staying in the hostel. Every public university in India clearly mentions that the students must vacate their hostel room after the completion of the course. The concerning part is how the management system of a hostel becomes so inefficient in knowing if a man was residing on the campus after the completion of his course. Is it the inefficiency of the hostel warden or did education become so corrupted that an outsider gives a small bribe to the concerned individuals?
According to rumors from the varsity students there was an angle of sexual allegation. The victim might have been forced to perform sexual activities which led to an eventual assault. This was a lot to take for the young man which can become the only reason why he jumped off the balcony. The evidence to support this claim is the striped body of Swapnadip when he jumped off the balcony. The university has established an investigation committee to look into the matter and report the culprit. There is a chance that it is a simple cover-up for the criminals just because the name of the university is involved. Ragging has been a tradition mostly restricted to engineering and medical colleges. Private colleges have banned such activities and a report can end the career of the perp. Why did the government colleges not implement such strict rules is a question for many? Harsh laws to prevent such crime have to be imposed in order to prevent incidents like these from happening again.
Why is ragging performed?
As per the reports of India Today, the primary reason to perform ragging is to seek vengeance from the juniors for the trouble they had to face. This entire cycle is not associated to endorse positivity among the students who are anxious to go for higher studies. On the contrary, they contribute further to the anxiety of these freshmen to the point where they can take their own life.
What is the impact of ragging?
There is a terrible impact of ragging which is directly associated with the loss of self-esteem and pride. Students will often think of quitting college and end their career to become a successful individual in life. Similar cases were seen with Swarnadip when he wanted to come back home. These instances of ragging rarely make it to the surface since incidents of deaths are not often in various cases. Nonetheless, such acts of ragging takes a toll on the mental health of the students and they are subjected to emotional bullying for a long period of time. The ones who cannot stand such bullying prefers to drop out of college or commit suicide.
This venomous cycle of ragging and bullying cannot be brought under control unless the government looks beyond political affiliations and ulterior motives. Death of Swapnadip is not the first one and certainly not the last given the way our government is taking a loose approach. The readers of this article must take a stand for themselves especially if they are freshman in a public university. With that being said ragging has to be banned in such varsities so that no more father and mother weeps for the loss of their child.