“Senior-Giri,” also known as ragging, despite being banned by law, is highly prevalent in some of the best-known educational institutions in the country. One such instance of alleged brutal dominance by senior students has been reported from one of India’s most highly recognised universities, Uttar Pradesh’s Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
The incident took place between third-year and second-year students of Srimati Moona Devi Hostel (SMD), located inside the campus of BHU. The matter resulted from a tense situation related to the commencement of the hostel freshers’ party to welcome the newly admitted students.
A simple “misunderstanding” between the seniors and juniors triggered an intense situation that turned violent. A group of juniors allege that even after approaching the seniors multiple times to solve the conflict, they took matters into their own hands and tried to impose their seniority.
While talking to “truth.,” a second-year student stated, “We were preparing for the freshmen celebration in our hostel. Our seniors did not interfere much initially, as they refrained from getting involved due to some personal issues with us. We didn’t mind at all. But things turned wild when they started complaining about loud voices. It is obvious that during the celebration, that too inside the hostel, things might naturally turn loud.”
The junior student claimed that the emerging dispute was solved later, but “I don’t know what discussion went on between them (the seniors); a day after that, they accused us of showing disrespect,” he said. Gradually, the situation turned violent when the accused group of seniors from the hostel summoned their connections from other hostels and planned an attack on the second-year students at SMD Hostel.
Meanwhile, the juniors claim that the mob came to physically abuse them with rods, bricks, chains, and other harmful weapons. Some of the students were injured. Fortunately, the proctors (university police) intervened, which stopped the violent mob from causing much harm.
Accordingly, to defend themselves from the “constant” violent attacks directed at them, the juniors fled the hostel after complaining about the incident to the dean of the Social Science faculty. They also filed an FIR alleging ragging and physical attacks.
This triggered the already intense state of affairs, and the third-year students began vandalising the hostel rooms of their juniors, allegedly breaking their cameras, laptop, guitar, and personal stuff. The junior also asserted that because their group is diverse and united compared to the seniors’ group, which consists of entirely “Brahman” people, “that is why we are getting targeted so brutally,” he added.
Currently, a counter FIR has also been filed by the allegedly accused seniors, who claim that their juniors initiated the flight. Despite Dean’s assurances that she would look into the matter, no action has been taken to date. The security arrangements inside the hostel are closely monitored to avoid any heated confrontation between the opposing parties.
Furthermore, such conflictual situations are fairly common in BHU. The flip side depicts the intolerable nature of the youth and the administration’s inability to manage the law and order situation on campus at a university that has produced some of the greatest minds in this country.
