Do not delay anti-ragging law, Kerala High Court tells State government

The Kerala High Court has directed the State government not to delay the anti-ragging law to end the ragtag menace.

This came after the government informed that the draft law was pending in the Legal department, awaiting finalization of issues such as sentencing of criminals. The court gave one week to finalize the case and sent the case to the next hearing on December 17.

The Supreme Court had on October 30 directed the State government to complete all the steps for placing the Kerala Rag Ban (Amendment) Bill, 2025 before the Parliament within four weeks. This was after a public interest litigation was filed by the Kerala Legal Services Authority (KeLSA) seeking stronger laws to combat the menace of disorder in educational institutions, following a series of disorder-related incidents in the state, including the death of a student.

The government had submitted to the court on October 30 that a file on this issue would be sent to the Legal Department and then presented to the Council of Ministers.

The draft bill has suggested setting up anti-ragging committees, teams and mentoring cells in all educational institutions and anti-ragging cells in all police stations. This article states that the head of the institution must, within 24 hours of receiving a complaint regarding information or gossip, determine whether a prima facie case has been established and take further steps to register a first information report. The student who is alleged to be a rag picker will be suspended immediately. The anti-ragging committee, chaired by the president of the institution, will include faculty members, non-teaching staff, final year students and freshmen, parents, representatives of civil and police administration, local media and NGOs dealing with youth affairs.