The Kerala High Court on Wednesday observed that the state lacks adequate law for preventing ragging in educational institutions and that rules need to be framed under Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1998 to effectively tackle the menace of ragging.

A special bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice C Jayachandran orally noted that the state only had a brief legislation of 9 sections to address the issue. It observed that since the passing of the legislation, the UGC has come up with detailed guidelines to curb ragging in colleges and the state might need to look into the need of introducing changes into the existing law.

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The court said the state can consider constituting a working group from different disciplines and can invite suggestions from the public for the purpose of formulating Rules. The court added that the working group should also look into whether the existing state legislation needs to be amended.

KeLSA’s counsel submitted that the High Court in its judgment in Berin P. Varghese v State of Kerala (2008) had noted that the offences in the Act are non-cognizable and bailable and highlighted the need to strengthen the provisions

“Once there is brutality and violence in ragging, it does not remain the concern of individual students or the institution but has the effect of shocking the conscience of the society. Therefore, the state has a major role in ensuring that there is a robust prevention mechanism,” the court said.

The high court on Tuesday decided to constitute a special bench to hear cases related to ragging in the state. The decision was made on Tuesday by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S Manu while considering a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KeLSA) to curb ragging incidents.

Highlighting the recently-reported incidents of ragging in the colleges in the state, the Kerala State Legal Services Authority (KeLSA), a statutory body providing free legal aid for citizens, has sought the formation of state and district-level anti-ragging monitoring committees to oversee the enforcement of anti-ragging laws. The petition states that, despite laws like the Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1998 (Kerala) and the UGC Regulations, 2009, there has been “a systemic failure in the implementation of preventive measures”.