Body shaming, requiring any act or doing something, which he/she will not do in the normal course and compelling a fresher to consume tobacco, alcohol and banned/scheduled narcotic substances will be construed as an act of ragging, as per a draft bill being contemplated by the Kerala government.
The bill, Kerala Prohibition of Ragging (Amendment) Bill, has also included "any kind of ragging done through the internet or in any digital mode" under the purview of the criminal offense of ragging for which stringent punishment has been specified.
The Kerala government is going to table the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging (Amendment) Bill, 2025, replacing its two-decade-old anti-ragging law. The development comes in the aftermath of JS Siddharthan — a student of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Pookode, Wayanad, who died at his hostel last February — exposing vital loopholes in the current 1998 Act.
For the first time, the new bill clearly defines ragging to encompass body shaming, psychological harassment, and cyber abuse, and declares them to be punishable offenses under law.
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The draft bill, although modifying some of the main provisions of the parent act, Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act, has extended its scope to all the educational institutions including universities, deemed to be university, including teaching departments, higher educational institutions, schools and other institutions under general education department, elements and constituent units of such institutions, all their premises in Kerala.
All branches of government departments, institutions of national interest established by an Act of Parliament, Central Universities, and all coaching and tuition centres have been made part of the definition of educational institutions.
The bill also provides for academic and residential spaces of all such institutions, excepting the playgrounds, canteens inside as well as outside the campuses, bus stands, home stays, all public and private means of transport facilities used by the students for the purpose of pursuing studies in such institutions in Kerala.
The following criminal offenses committed in the course of ragging such as abetment of ragging, criminal conspiracy, illegal assembly, rioting, public nuisance, and commission of obscene and sexual acts committed in the course of ragging will fall within the purview of the draft Bill.
Inflicting physical harm in the process of ragging, stripping, robbery, extortion, fraudulent misappropriation of property, criminal breach of trust, criminal trespass, criminal intimidation will also fall within the purview of the bill, as per the draft bill.
The State has seen a succession of public protests after the death of JS Sidharthan, a 20-year-old student. He was found dead in the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode, Wayanad, in February 2024, reportedly after brutal ragging.
Earlier, the Kerala High Court had directed the state government to submit a copy of the draft Anti-Ragging (Amendment) Bill, 2025, to the Kerala State Legal Services Authority and the University Grants Commission on a petition moved by the Authority.
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