Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Wednesday directed Principal Secretary, Home Department, to apprise it about the guidelines framed by the Government to curb incidents of ragging on the premises of the educational institutions across the State.
The Commission also asked the Principal Secretary to inform it whether periodical monitoring is being conducted to ensure that the guidelines are implemented and if the Government has set up a State anti-ragging helpline as done by the Government of India following the Supreme Court order to help the victims of ragging and take action against the culprits by informing the heads of the institutions and the local police.
OHRC directed the Principal Secretary to submit a report in this regard by October 11. The Commission's Chairperson Bimal Prasad Das said in case the State level anti-ragging helpline has not been set up then to set up helpline number at police headquarters in different districts and to publicise the numbers widely as an interim measure. OHRC also directed Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Department of School and Mass Education, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Higher Education Department, Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Department of Health and Family Welfare, and Commissioner-cum-Secretary Skill Development and Technical Education Department to furnish their response on the steps taken to curb ragging in educational institutions.
The officials have been asked to respond by October 11. The direction comes after 'Ragging Free Campus Abhiyan' convenor Tejeswar Parida filed a petition with OHRC saying though some rules and guidelines have been framed by the State Government but they are not being implemented robustly for which incidents of ragging are increasing every passing day.
