State to strengthen anti-ragging act

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government will strive to add teeth to the Anti-Ragging Act to check harassment of students in academic institutions, a minister said Tuesday. Despite there being a law in place, unfortunate incidents such as Dr Payal Tadvi’s alleged suicide occur in hospitals here, said minister of state for home Ranjit Patil in the state Assembly.

In the calling attention notice in the Assembly Tuesday, BJP MLA Atul Bhatkalkar raised the issue of ragging in colleges. He demanded that the trial of the three doctors accused of abetting Dr Tadvi’s suicide be expedited and section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) be invoked against them.

In reply, Mr Patil said that despite there being a law in place, such incidents took place. He assured that strict action would be taken against the accused trio who had been arrested in the case.

Mr Patil also said in the house that the government would not only strengthen the anti-ragging Act but also take steps to ensure that such incidents did not take place in future. Medical education minister Girish Mahajan said that the government was conducting a transparent inquiry into the matter.

MLAs Satish Patil and Vijay Wadettiwar also participated in the discussion, demanding stringent action against the dean of BYL Nair Medical College. Mr Wadettiwar said, “The dean did not pay attention to Dr Tadvi’s complaint and asked her to withdraw the complaint against the three doctors. If he had taken action, the unfortunate incident would not have taken place.”

Shiv Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu demanded to be shown the viscera and crime branch report. Mr Patil said, “The viscera report has not yet been received by the government.”