Medical colleges are ragging hotspots, reveals report
A new report by the Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) has revealed alarming trends in ragging incidents across Indian educational institutions with medical colleges emerging as the worst offenders.
The State of Ragging in India 2022-24 report, based on 3,156 complaints registered at the National Anti-Ragging Helpline from 1,946 colleges, highlights the severity of ragging-related cases, including 51 deaths in the past three years.
Medical colleges, despite comprising just 1.1 per cent of India’s student population, accounted for 38.6 per cent of total ragging complaints, 35.4 per cent of serious cases and a staggering 45.1 per cent of ragging-related deaths.
The report recorded 20 ragging-related deaths in 2024, surpassing the student suicides reported from Kota coaching institutes for that year. Between 2022 and 2024, a total of 51 students lost their lives due to ragging with medical colleges accounting for nearly half of these fatalities.
The report read, “While there is ample debate in the country over the Kota student suicides, there is a relative absence of equal attention by the civil society, media, educational institutions and the government over the deaths caused by ragging.”
The report also identified institutions with the highest number of ragging complaints. In 2024, the top colleges with the most complaints included University of Lucknow (15 complaints), MKCG Medical College, Odisha (9), Banaras Hindu University Campus, Uttar Pradesh (8), Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (8) and MGM Medical College and Hospital, Jharkhand (7).
Among universities, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University in Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of complaints (34), followed by Bihar Engineering University (30) and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal (27).
Over the three-year period, the most affected universities were Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology and Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University each with 75 complaints, followed by Banaras Hindu University (42) and University of Lucknow (40).
Among medical colleges, MKCG Medical College in Odisha topped the list with 25 complaints between 2022 and 2024, followed by Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Medical College, Raipur (15), and Vardhman Institute of Medical Sciences, Bihar (14).
Medical universities also fared poorly with Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University (75 complaints) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University (68) topping the list.
SAVE emphasised that the numbers in its report only reflect complaints made to the National Anti-Ragging Helpline and do not account for cases reported directly to colleges, police or those that go unreported due to fear of retaliation.
2022-24: Top universities with most complaints
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal: 75 complaints
Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University: 75
Banaras Hindu University: 42
University of Lucknow: 40
Berhampur University, Odisha: 31
2022-24: Top medical universities with most complaints
Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University, Jabalpur: 75
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University, Lucknow: 68
Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik: 61
Rajasthan University of Health Sciences, Jaipur: 52
West Bengal University of Health Sciences, Kolkata: 39
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