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Hello Everyone
Did not see a written update of yesterday's episode. Giving you one.
Disclaimer - I have made all effort to keep the key dates and facts accurate. I might have erred in noting them though.
Mimoha
*****
25 June, 2007
Ajay Raina gets admission in College of Medical Science, Shimla. His parents, Sushila Raina and Radha Raina, send him to study with great hopes for his future. After three months, one night they receive a call from him. He tells his father that he wants to return home as he is unable to bear it anymore. His father asks him for more details but the phone gets disconnected. Parents decide to visit him in Shimla. Two days after the call, when they are packing their bags to leave, they get a call informing them that Ajay has died. They rush to Shimla and breakdown on seeing his body. Ajay has dressing covering his head and ears. Sushil Raina meets the Principal of the college to find out the cause of Ajay's death and is informed that Ajay might have either taken up drinking or got addicted to drugs. He meets the Hostel Warden who also informs him the same. He tries to meet Ajay's roommate Rahim but Warden makes excuses. He tries to ask other students about Rahim but everybody avoids him. He visits Jeevan Jyoti Hospital where Ajay had taken his treatment from before he died. A ward boy of the hospital informs that Ajay was in bad condition when he came to the hospital. He was unable to sit or walk properly and had blood coming out from his left ear. He was not able to hear properly. Dr. Chandra had examined him, done the dressing and prescribed some medicines. Sushil Raina meets Rahim in the hospital but Rahim refuses to talk to him. Later in the evening Rahim comes to meet Sushil Raina and tells him the physical and mental torture that their seniors had subjected them to in the name of ragging for close to three months. On the day before he died, a senior had asked Ajay to do his assignment which he had refused after which the senior had beaten him up. He also shares that Principal and Warden had threatened them not to reveal the circumstances under which Ajay died to save the reputation of the college.
Police calls Sushil Raina to show him the post mortem report which confirms drugs as the cause of Ajay's death. Police asks him to take Ajay's body but he refuses to. Sushil Raina visits Ajay's hostel room to take his belongings. He finds a diary in which Ajay has written a few words about the daily torture he underwent. He also finds a letter written by Ajay to Police about ragging menace in the hostel seeking their help. Armed with the letter, Sushil Raina goes to Police and says that he will not leave till he gets justice for his son. Rahim agrees to tell the truth. A press conference is organised in which Sushil Raina shows Ajay's letter to press and Rahim tells the truth. Police is forced to arrest the seniors who ragged Ajay. Other batchmates of Ajay also announce that they will testify against their seniors. Parents of the seniors who are arrested get bail from Shimla Court. Sushil Raina approaches Supreme Court. Supreme Court puts the case on fast track. It also sends a show cause notice to the Principal of the college asking why steps were not taken to control ragging. He and the Warden are subsequently suspended. Accused are sentenced to four years prison. Sushil Raina does not appeal for longer sentence although it is widely felt that the punishment is inadequate for the heinous crime.
Sushil Raina sets up Ajay Raina Trust and starts campaigning in all the states for law against ragging. In 2009 an Anti Ragging Act is passed making ragging a non-bailable criminal offence. UGC sets up an anti-ragging cell in its Higher Education Department with Sushil Raina at its helm. Sushil Raina shares that the cell received 195 complaints in 2010, 161 in 2011 and 45 in 2012. He says his aim is bring down the number of complaints to zero.
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