UGC’s anti-ragging system has utterly failed: Delhi HC

UGC’s anti-ragging system has utterly failed: Delhi HC

13.07.2025

Court mulls suo motu PIL petition to check surge in ragging episodes and student suicides; UGC’s anti-ragging helpline number recorded 1,084 complaints in 2024, the highest in past nine years 

SOIBAM ROCKY SINGH 13.07.2025

NEW DELHI In a strong rebuke to the University Grants Commission’s current anti-ragging framework, the Delhi High Court has signalled that it may initiate a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) petition to address the recent surge in ragging incidents and student suicides across higher educational institutions.

According to the latest 2022 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, students accounted for 7.6% — or 13,044 — of all suicide deaths in India, surpassing even the combined toll among farmers and agricultural labourers. Last year, the UGC’s anti-ragging helpline recorded 1,084 complaints, the highest in the past nine years.

“This system has utterly failed. You have not been able to do anything. Except every other day, there is a news report of a student death,” a Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed on Friday during the hearing on a petition filed by the Aman Satya Kachroo Trust (ASKT), a non-governmental organisation.

Questioning the effectiveness of the UGC’s anti-ragging system, the court observed, “Spending ₹44 lakh yearly for overseeing the welfare of 35 million students across the country — how do you justify this? You have to open your coffers.”

“This issue of ragging appears to be very superficial, but, if you ever met someone who have dropped out on account of ragging, only then you would realise. A person who commits suicide, we are never able to interact with,” the court had earlier remarked.

Supreme Court rap

The development comes just months after the Supreme Court, in March, expressed concern that the existing UGC regulations on curbing ragging remained largely on paper.

“...news reports have pointed out that tangible actions have not been taken by stakeholders other than mere formalities such as mandating undertakings from students and parents against indulging in ragging, and putting up no-ragging notices on university premises,” the Supreme Court had observed while ordering the registration of an FIR in the case of two students who ended their lives inside the campus of the IIT, Delhi, in 2023. It also directed the formation of a National Task Force to address mental health concerns among students.

Mental health crisis

A 2024 National Medical Commission survey of 37,000 postgraduate students revealed that 31% had suicidal thoughts, and 4.4% had attempted suicide within a year. Over 27% of postgraduates reported being ragged; 31% experienced abuse from faculty or seniors.