Kerala High Court mandates anti-ragging working group draft

The Kerala High Court has instructed the state government to prepare a draft for a new working group focused on anti-ragging rules. The court wants this draft ready within a week. The Chief Justice Nitin Jamadar and Justice C. Jayachandran emphasized that the government should have presented the draft earlier. They noted the importance of addressing the issue of ragging quickly. However, the government requested an additional two weeks to finalize the draft. The court highlighted the need for a strong legal framework to effectively tackle ragging, which is currently lacking. It also ordered that the working group should include representatives from the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Kerala Legal Services Authority (KeLSA). This ruling comes after a public interest petition by KeLSA, which asked for the formation of district and state-level committees to monitor compliance with the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act. The court also invited the family of a student who died due to alleged ragging to share their suggestions after the working group is established.