INTRODUCTION
Admission in Maulana Azad Medical College, a premier institution brings lots of happiness to the students and their families. The college starts on 1st August every year. Ragging is a custom in the professional colleges and university campuses in our country. Maulana Azad Medical college have always taken adequate measures for prevention and control of ragging every year. And the ragging in the campus is probably minimum among any of the colleges. However, due to the ugly incidences of ragging in other colleges in Delhi and the rest of the country appearing in the newspapers and media there is anxiety and fear among the freshers and their family members. The college would like to alleviate this fear and anxiety and provide a conducive environment for learning during the initial period of the course. Following the Hon'ble Supreme Court's direction and in the Golden Jubilee year of the college we aim to make Maulana Azad Medical College a ragging free campus.

WHAT IS RAGGING ?
“Any disorderly, whether by words spoken or written, or by an act which has the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any other student, indulging in rowdy or undisciplined activities which causes or is likely to cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm or to raise apprehension thereof in a fresher or a junior student or asking the students to do any act or perform something which such student will not in the ordinary course and which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so as to adversely affect the physique or psyche of a fresher or a junior student” Hon'ble Supreme court Thus, ragging includes:

• Act of physical and sexual abuse, homosexual assault, stripping, forcing obscene and lewd acts, gestures,
  causing bodily harm or any other danger to health.
• Act of abuse by spoken words, emails, snail-mails, public insults, perverted pleasures, vicarious or sadistic feel from actively or passively participating in the discomfiture to others
• Exploiting the services of junior students for completing the academic tasks by the seniors.
• Act of financial extortion or forceful expenditure
• Any act that affects the mental health and self confidence of students

DIRECTIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT
The Honb'le Supreme Court has focused to tackle the problem of ragging by the following measures:

1. Primary responsibility for curbing ragging rests with academic institutions themselves
2. Ragging adversely impacts the standards of higher education.
3. Incentives must be available to the institution for curbing the menace and there should be disincentives for failure to do so.
4. Enrolment in academic pursuits or a campus life should not immunize any adult citizen from penal provisions of the laws of the land.
5. Ragging needs to be perceived as a failure to inculcate human values from the schooling stage.
6. Behaviour ial pat terns among students, particularly potential raggers need to be identified.
7. Measures against ragging must deter its recurrence
8. A concerted action is required at the level of the school, higher educational institution, district administration, university, state and central governments.
9. Media and civil society should be involved in this exercise.

RECOMMENDATIONS OF RAGHAVAN COMMITTEE
The committee constituted under Dr. R. K. Raghavan, former Director (CBI) to give suggestions for prevention of ragging in educational institutions of the country. The Dean, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi was one of the members of the committee. The committee has submitted its report on May 7th 2007 and given recommendations. Some of the impor tant recommendations are as follows.

1. Act which violates the dignity of the student or is perceived to violate his/her dignity should also be considered as ragging.
2. Sensitization programme involving parents, students, teachers, media should be formulated and implemented.
3. For preventio no fragging, atiered structure should be there, where senior students should be made responsible for a group of freshers particularly in hostels should report to teachers/ warden who will report to the Dean or Head of institution.
4. Helplines should be offered
5. Victim may lodge an FIR
6. Terms of punishment has been as follows:
     • Categories of ragging and punishment
     • Verbal Ragging: When senior causes mental harassment, discomfort for the junior by forcing him/her to answer unacceptable/personal quest ions, dance, dance, sign, etc. is said to rag the junior. It also includes within its ambit cyber ragging.
     • Punishment: 1 year imprisonment or fine or
     • Severe Verbal Ragging: Wh erethe mental harassment, discomfort is to such an act as forces the junior to withdraw from the college
     • Punishment: 7 year imprisonment with fine.
     • Physical: Any act by the senior towards the junior which inflicts bodily injury on the junior. Like beating the junior, hitting him/her with objects etc.
     • Punishment : Punishment : 7 year imprisonment with fine.
     • Sexual Ragging: where the senior asks the junior to do an act which damages sexual dignity of the junior.
     • Punishment: 7 year rigorous imprisonment and fine.
7. Ragging Evidence: Act of ragging witnessed by teacher, non-teaching staff or administrative staff to be treated as final.
8. The institution must be an active party to lodge an FIR.

Orientation of Freshers and Address of the Dean and other important officers of the campus is scheduled on 1st August 2007, where measures taken to make MAMC campus ragging free will also be discussed along with welcome address and other important issues.

ANTI-RAGGING SQUADS:
Everyday anti ragging squad consisting of 6 to 10 faculty members / residents from various departments by rotation will be escorting the freshers and undertake vigilance activities three (3) times a day in the month of August. A vehicle is made available for the purpose. Meeting of all the concerned is convened under the chairmanship of Dean on the 26th August to discuss the issues.

The posters and banners are prepared and will be displayed. A power point presentation consisting of Hon Supreme Court's directives, Raghavan committee recommendations ets. is prepared and will be presented to the senior students. Hand outs for appeal to make MAMC campus ragging free is prepared and will be distributed. Power point presentation in relation to anti-ragging measures and protective measures to protect the freshers is prepared and will be presented to the freshers on the 1st of August. Four mobile numbers will be available and helpline numbers will be prominently displayed.

The AMA is participatinginanti - ragging measures. A GBM of students is convened by AMA where the faculty will be addressing on the issue.

The college will organize cultural functions. The college also assures the complainant to maintain anonymity and confidentiality and will deliver justice within a specified time frame. The institutional authority will be an active party to move in favor of complainant to lodge FIR and for every single incident of ragging where the victim or his parents is not satisfied an FIR will be filed without exception by the Institutional authorities.

The burden of proof to prove innocence will lie on the perpetrator and not on the victim.

In cases where the perpetrator is not identified the authorities will impart collective punishment / fines to make both active as well as passive participants and abettors to pay for the crime.

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE FRESHERS
When a fresher feels distressed or harassed, he/she should :

DEAN, MAMC