UGC notes rise in ragging cases in 2022–23

According to the annual report shared by the University Grants Commission (UGC), it has received a higher number of ragging complaints on its anti-ragging “helpline” number in the academic year 2022-23 compared to 2021-22.

The UGC report claimed that it received 858 complaints of ragging on its anti-ragging toll-free number 1800-1805522 in the academic year 2022-23. The UGC’s report claims that it has resolved 797 complaints out of these, while 61 are still pending.

These numbers are higher compared to those of 2021-22 when the UGC received 582 complaints on the helpline, out of which 401 complaints had been resolved and 181 were pending.

The helpline, set up in June 2009, has been operational for students to report complaints related to ragging and harassment faced by them on college campuses across India.

To check whether the helpline is working The Free Press Journal (FPJ) called the number and discovered that the complaints are manually attended to and then registered in the UGC’s database by the support personnel.

During the call, details like the college name, time, and location of the incident, and the accused involved are noted down. The support staff does not ask the complainant to reveal their identity while registering the complaint.

The National Anti-Ragging helpline team then forwards the complaint to four different authorities, including the college management, the vice-chancellor of the university (if it's a university matter), the police in the area, the superintendent of police and the deputy superintendent of police, in case of serious matters.

The support staff told the FPJ, "We receive several calls during the month and make sure that every case is given immediate attention."

When asked about the possibility of receiving prank calls, the person revealed that they have not received such calls so far, but there is no way for them to verify if a student is telling the truth. The responsibility of conducting the investigation lies with the college management. The helpline cell only transfers the complaints to the concerned authorities, who further investigate the case. Lastly, the helpline cell ensures follow-ups on the case to monitor the investigation progress. The case is only closed when the victim is satisfied with the outcome. This service is available in 12 different languages.

Students can also lodge complaints via email at helpline@antiragging.in. In the case of emails, the complainant should ideally receive a response from the National Anti-Ragging Cell within 20 days of the registration of the complaint.

While 582 ragging complaints were received by the UGC in 202122, it went up to 858 in 2022-23