Anti-ragging campaign in Mumbai before colleges start

Even as FYJC students nervously await their first brush with college (and ragging), college students across the city have already started a nation-wide campaign against ragging. By the end of this month-long campaign, students aim to collect more than a lakh signatures from collegians, who have vowed to not rag their juniors.

A bus decorated with graffiti and posters was flagged off from the KC College campus in Churchgate on Monday as part of a nationwide campaign called ‘Bus — Aur Nahin’. The bus, which began its journey from Delhi, will travel to Mithibai and NM colleges in Vile Parle and St Xavier’s College, Fort, on Tuesday, disseminating information about ragging, and enlisting volunteers by a signature campaign on a giant canvas.  The group will travel to eight cities in the ‘Anti-Ragging Bus’ and aims to cover at least 40 colleges in every city.

“Ragging causes a lot of mental stigma. Since I was staying in a hostel at an engineering college earlier, I have been a victim of ragging and know how it feels to be filled with vengeance and rag juniors. To put an end to this, we need students to understand the issue and promise to not rag their juniors,” said Girish Muralidhar, a SYBA student of KC College, and one of the organisers of the campaign.

Ragging has been declared a criminal offense in the country by the supreme court, and under its direction, the University Grants Commission has funded a toll-free helpline for students in distress.

“We inform the FYJC students on the orientation day that they will be punished severely if found guilty. Our students and teachers patrol the corridors when the FYJC students join,” said Vijay Dabholkar, vice principal, KC College.