Mita Mukherjee

The Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) an NGO working to eliminate ragging in educational institutions has strongly condemned the Birsa Institute of Technology (BIT) Sindri for its “forceful”, “arbitrary” and “unprecedented” decision to evict all first-year students from hostels after a recent alleged ragging incident that led to students’ violence on the campus.   

“Never in the known history of ragging cases in India has any institution responded by punishing all junior students collectively,” said Kushal Banerjee, president of SAVE. “This is not just administrative failure — it’s a systemic collapse of institutional responsibility and empathy,” he said.

After a violent clash between two groups of first and third- year students on the night of May 12, BIT Sindri, Dhanbad one of the oldest engineering institutions in the country and one of the most reputed in Jharkhand had ordered all first-year students to vacate their hostels the next day. The clash between the students of first and third years had allegedly snowballed into a series of violent incidents.

In a letter addressed to the institute, SAVE described the mass eviction as a “blanket victimization” of innocent students adding that such an action not only lacks compassion but also re-victimizes junior students who may already have been subjected to trauma.

 The clash took place after a first-year student with the help of some “outsiders” allegedly beat up a third-year student after a heated exchange of words. In retaliation the senior students attacked the first-year students at their hostels allegedly injuring a number of students.

The NGO said the act of the institute to send the first-year students home is a violation of the University Grants Commission Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in Higher Educational Institutions, 2009 which emphasises protection and support for junior students – “the most vulnerable demographic on campuses,” the organization said.

The organization has demanded immediate withdrawal of the eviction order.

Sources in the institute said the decision to vacate the first-year students was taken to prevent further escalation of violent incidents on the campus. Internal inquiry and police investigations are in progress and those responsible for creating the trouble would be punished.

SAVE in its letter to the institute said that there is an urgent need for the authorities to ensure a safer campus.

“This is a call not just for justice, but for restoring faith in higher education,’ said Gaurav Singhal, the vice-president of the organization.