Aman Satya Kachroo, left-most, in his school days. Photo by Vaibhav Chhabra via Facebook
Before he died of brain haemorrhage (and not cardiac arrest as the papers incorrectly claimed), Aman Satya Kachroo wrote a note about who beat him up. In the note he named the four accused who are all now in jail. The note reads like a dying declaration and is signed by 12 witnesses. It seems unlikely that even one of the 12 witnesses will have the courage to say in court that they saw the lynching happening before their eyes. Even as they came down to Gurgaon for the cremation, they must have been getting calls from their parents, ‘Beta, just say you didn’t see anything. Why get into these court hassles and potential threats from the families of the accused?’
Even so, the evidence against the four is probably the strongest ever and with the state government determined to punish the accused, it is only a matter of time before they are given rigorous imprisonment. They evidence may not have been so strong had Rohit Dhar, Aman Kachroo’s uncle who reached there as soon as he was informed of the death, allowed Dr Suresh Sankhyan to conduct the post-mortem and write the crucial post-mortem report. Sankhyan who? Same gentleman who happened to be the principal of the college, the same gentleman who didn’t take action over the repeated ragging complaints from freshers! Having presided over a fresher’s death, he wanted to write the post-mortem. Well, because this was the only medical college in Tanda. Mr Dhar must be lauded that even in a state of grief he had the presence of mind to drive the body to Dharamshala and made sure three doctors did the post-mortem.
However, the police in Kangra have another problem at hand. They don’t mind arresting the Suresh Sankhyan, but they don’t know what provision of the law they can do so under! The Supreme Court said in 2001 that principals will be held responsible for not being able to curb ragging, but in 2009 the Himachal Pradesh police don’t know under what provision they can arrest former principal Sankhyan. This is a classic example of how Public Interest Litigation is not, is NOT, a substitute for legislation, notification of laws and setting up a due legal procedure from the police station upwards. That’s not at all a fault of the courts though – why doesn’t Himachal Pradesh have an anti-ragging law? Actually, it did pass an ordinance in 1992 and has elapsed since no one bothered to pass it as a law. The ordinance had a provision against principals and wardens who do not curb ragging: jail for six months. If only this ordinance had back then been made into a law, Sankhyan could have been arrested and a strong message sent out to obstinate Principal types across the country whose wont it is to think that they are the law.
That is the story of anti-ragging legislation at the Himachal Pradesh level. At the central level, a hitherto unreported fact has emerged, which is that the Supreme Court of India did ask, orally, the central government to pass an anti-ragging law in the ongoing suo moto PIL. This was reported yesterday in the Indian Express by Manish Chibber:
…the Union Human Resource Development Ministry has never shown eagerness to come up with a law at the national level.
The Home Ministry too didn’t act on a suggestion of the Supreme Court which, in May 2007, wanted a section to be added to the Indian Penal Code (IPC), making ragging a punishable offence…
…a bench of the apex court had said that apart from ragging, abetment to ragging, criminal conspiracy to rag, causing injury, wrongful confinement, use of force, assault as well as sexual offences should also be included in such a section of the IPC. It also wanted the burden of proof in ragging cases to lie on the accused — not the victim.
[...]
Sources in the Home Ministry said that “preliminary discussions” were held on an anti-ragging law after the apex court ruling but “nothing concrete” followed as senior Ministry officials felt that the Supreme Court guidelines were “adequate in dealing with the problem.” The issue was also discussed with state governments to elicit views and to push them to bring about their own anti-ragging laws. Other than a few states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal, most don’t have anti-ragging laws. [Link]
So we have a bizarre situation where the Supreme Court wants the Government to to amend the IPC to make ragging an offence, but the Government feels the Supreme Court orders are enough. Will these lazy bureaucrats please hang their heads in shame?
And not just in the home and HRD ministries but also in the states. The RK Raghavan committee mentions in its report that while seven states have so far passed anti-ragging laws, only two, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have notified them. In other words, Maharashtra, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Chhattisgarh have not even cared to notify their laws, so they remain pieces of paper. This is the height of bureaucratic indifference. So many bureaucrats, so many governments, have been this efficient.
The committee report also notes, “In terms of the purpose of the various State laws, we find that other than the Chhattisgarh Act, no other State legislation is intended to prevent ragging – the others only seek to prohibit.” See pages 21 and 22 of the report, as well as the tabulur analysis of the seven state laws in pages 182-183 (2 MB .pdf file here).
We need an all-India anti-ragging law. The Parliament of India has to pass it. NOW.
*
There’s a candlelight vigil, be there or elsewhere:
Location: Jantar Mantar, Delhi
Time: 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Date: Satarday, 14th March
(Cross-posted at Kafila.)
Filed under: 2008-09, Ragging and the Law | Tagged: Aman Kachroo, Dr Rajendra Prasad Medical College, ragging, Suresh Sankhyan, Tanda
hello mr vij,
i went through your articles, and felt a mix of outrage and anguish. i also read the document that has been submitted to the SC by mr subramaniam, and it was distressing, how most of the facts were distorted, unwittingly or on purpose.
firstly- what happened was extremely unfortunate, a boy lost his life, its very tragic and nothing that we say or do will ever be able to make up for the loss.
coming to the point. i personally believe that he didnt die of ragging, maybe ragging was very remotely related to the incident maybe even not related.
as has been pointed out in the post mortem report, that the cause of death is a head injury,but a patient of head injury is very unlikely to die suddenly as in this case unless the vital centres in the brainstem are involved, which was not the case here, this type of sudden death happens usually in a cardiac event. there are unconfirmed reports that aman was suffering from a cardiac disease.
secondly dr suresh sankhyan is being potrayed as the man responsible for everything that has gone wrong, by the ‘facts’ that you have collected. but this is far from the truth. Dr sankhyan is a thorough gentleman, and a very kind man, he has been one of the best principals that college has seen. all matters of indiscipline and ragging have been punished by him. maybe his way of reforming an indisciplined pupil is something you dont like and find it insufficient as a punishment!
thirdly many facts in the report presented to the SC are not facts indeed. rather someone who knows about those incidents will find them(facts) hillarious and mock the casual attitude with which they have been presented to the highest court in the country.
lastly, mr vij, as you suggested we must have a law passed against ragging now. but im sure you realise that laws dont change things much, its the mindset that needs to be changed…we probably have a law that prevents people from saying and writing whatever they fancy, but its not stopping you or me!
Reading through the report I couldn’t help but wonder at the facts and the casual manner in which they have been presented without a thorough investigation as regard to their verification with a single minded prejudice against the College – Dr. R.P.G.M.C. tanda.
Let me present the facts as they were point by point:-
“It is also learnt that in 2002 in the same institution, a student by the name of Neeraj was found dead in the hostel and the postmortem was conducted in a hurry and the matter was closed.”
The afore mentioned student was suffering from mental depression in relation to his studies and it is a common medical fact that under depression a person is driven towards suicide. It was a shock to the students and the administration alike with no indication of ragging whatsoever.
2.” In 2004, a junior student was stabbed in his stomach with a broken bottle and none of the guilty persons were brought to book.”
The afore mentioned student was in an inebriated state and in this condition was going about breaking hostel windows and empty bottles. In this inebriated state he somehow injured himself and if it were not for his seniors and other hostel members who took him timely to the hospital would surely have succumbed to his injuries.
3. “In 2006, four students were compelled to drink alcohol and were beaten up. They were taken in a bus and dropped 53 miles away. The bus met with an accident. No action was taken even though one of the students became disabled. The said Dr. Sankhayan reportedly hushed up the matter.”
The afore mentioned students were notorious for their drunken rabble rousing. They were also habitual to take the college bus for a drive in the night by somehow starting it with a duplicate key. (All this came out under subsequent investigation by the college authorities after the incident and as confessed by their classmates and themselves later on). One night under the influence of alcohol they took out the bus and in their drunken state banged the bus in a road side tree at high speed suffering grievous injuries. It was only due to the intervention of one of the students relative who is a prominent doctor in IGMC Shimla, and some high profile relatives of others that they were not expelled.
4.”In 2004, the students beat up people in the local Ram Lila Maidan with iron rods and bamboo sticks and yet the college did not take any action against the students.”
The above incident took place when some local goondas caught two of the students and beat them up causing clavicular fracture of one, that the students got angry and gathered into the ram lila maidan demanding justice. The manner in which the incident has been presented is absolutely to the contrary.
5. “In 2006, the students damaged the college canteen and the owner Naresh Soni suffered physical injuries, yet no action was taken.”
In this afore mentioned incident the owner along with some of his workers, who were incidentally inebriated, abused and attacked a student. The resultant melee that ensued caused damage to his property.
These facts can be verified by anyone who carries out a thorough investigation into the matter including press
and police reports as well as interview of the affected individuals and not merely base his findings on prejudice and heresy.
It cannot be denied that a grievous wrong has been committed in the death of a young promising student and anything said or done can change that fact. The matter should be thoroughly investigated and the persons responsible be brought to justice.
But on the other hand falsely attributing all incidents on senior students and ragging without proper investigation and single minded prejudice against the college, its faculty and students is terribly wrong. Its the duty of any journalist and/or an investigating officer to search for the facts and present them as they were without letting his prejudice creep into his work. Let not
a few black sheep be the representative of an entire flock. in this highly charged atmosphere it is easy to paint everything black while forgetting the good the hospital and its doctors are doing selflessly for the poor of the region.
@Dr. Varun Agarwal
Sir, I too couldn’t help but wonder at the facts, and the casual manner in which they have been presented. Im referring to the following words in your explanation #3.
3. “habitual to take the college bus for a drive in the night by somehow starting it.. “
@Varun Agarwal
Sir, I’m afraid your accusations of Mr Vij being casual with facts are profoundly baseless and yes, typically ‘casual’ themselves.
Attached is a link to the official MAGISTERIAL INQUIRY REPORT for the Aman Kachroo case, squarely blaming the Principal and his kangaroo administration at Rajendra Prasad Medical College for the incidents of March 6 – 8, 2009.
http://hphealth.nic.in/MI_AK.pdf
Read and please weep. Not for the death of a 1st yr student (who could well have been your son, brother or friend) but for the fact that in all likelihood the main accused Ajay Verma could be awarded an out-of-hand bail by the end of the year.