R. Padmanabhan, Director of Socio-Economic Development Foundation (SEDF), a think tank based out of Madurai, told IANS: “India is not ruled by British and this is a free country and there are stringent laws against ragging in place. I don’t know why the authorities have not lodged a formal complaint with the police as the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act of 1997 provides two years imprisonment, a fine of Rs 10,000 and even Supreme Court has come down heavily against ragging. The suspension for four ragging offenders for seven days is too little punishment in a situation wherein a second-year MBBS student attempt suicide.”Criticisms have come from several corners on the minor punishment meted out to the students who have indulged in ragging of the second-year student.Dr. Padmavathy, former head of the department of community medicine of a government medical college from Chennai, told IANS: “It is unfortunate that ragging and sadism are still continuing in medical colleges of Tamil Nadu. To my knowledge, the student who was subjected to ragging hails from a remote area of Namakkal and would have had a lot of aspirations while joining a government medical college and if he tried to kill himself that means he was driven to the edge. The offenders must be strongly punished and the legal course should be taken to prevent such actions in college campuses in future.”
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