Now that the death of Madhurjya Barukial, a student of Assam Engineering College, has
come to light, there should be proper inquiry or else, the facts will always be
under cover. How could it be possible that a boy who didn't know how to swim
will go to a pond deep enough just to have a bath? Where were those friends at
that moment who played football together? Is this a case of accidental death or homicide? There arise so many questions.
What
is happening in Assam Engineering College (AEC) is pathetic. I was there in AEC at Hostel No-1 in 1999 for about 4 months before
joining MBBS course. Short introduction and somewhat funny is acceptable, but I
witnessed those inhumane behaviour of some of the seniors in the name of ragging. The
response of the college authority was also totally disappointing. After about 1 month of my admission to Engineering course, for
one night I stayed with my father at the AEC guest house because of my high
grade fever. Same night someone from the 3rd semester complained to the
Principal regarding ongoing ragging in the hostel premises. It was good that
the Principal went to the hostel during that night itself and caught some of
the seniors red handed. But in the next morning all those "famous" seniors
pointed their heavy fingers at me for the "conspiracy" about which I
was totally unaware of. They even threatened me, saying that I would face the
consequences as soon as my father leaves Guwahati and a special
treatment was awaiting me that night. My father instantly took the decision to shift me and arranged
for paying guest facility for my stay and I bid good bye to the hostel life at
AEC. I didn't complain anything as it was just a threatening, but the college
authority didn't take any action against those seniors whom they caught red handed.
The authority handled the situation in a very diplomatic way. Only god knows
what would have been my fate in case I stayed there that night. Hope I could
have taken some drastic steps against those seniors at that time itself.
12
long years passed since the incident that I have mentioned. But the question
is, has the situation changed? Only few months back I examined one student from
AEC with superficial corneal opacity (result of ragging). Should it be
somewhat more severe or in case there was infection, the student might lose
sight of that eye. The student did not want to complain, so I had to record in
my note as “accidental injury”.
Tough
laws have been passed against ragging, but our attitude have not changed. We
just think that these just happens. In my time I didn't complain, and now also
only very few of the newcomers come forward against those until and unless
something drastic happens. Some of the institutions also try to hide the facts.
If it goes on like this, more lives will be ruined and we will have to just
wait and watch for a miracle to happen.
