What is bullying
Bullying means traumatizing a person physically or mentally repeatedly. It includes any action which has the tendency to affect the mind of the victim like any threats, rumors, physically or verbally any act or ignorance. With the advent of time, one of the most common types of bullying also includes cyber-bullying which has resulted in the death of many victims. Some bullying is easy to recognize like physical tortures while some occur quietly and covertly through social media, personal comments on caste, physique which causes emotional damage to the person.
Ragging and bullying are not interchangeable. However, they differ in degree and intensity. Ragging is like a culture, especially in schools and colleges. But there have been times when ragging has taken the faces of bullying and later turned to a criminal act. In India, the highly reputed colleges have a history of ragging and students committing suicide. Ragging is the communication method used by the seniors to interact with their juniors but often it turns to be so inhuman that it has taken the lives of many students.
The Supreme Court in 2009 judgment ordered the recommendation made by the Raghvan Committee be implemented immediately among which one of the recommendations were:-
“Every Institution must have an Anti-Ragging Committee and an Anti-Ragging Squad at university level”.
There is no anti-ragging law but the same has provisions in IPC. Now, many colleges have strictly formed anti-ragging committees and other strict measures. In spite of all the measures in 2015-2016 approx. 1839 complaints have been registered.
In spite of all the strict rules and guidelines, there is a number of shameless crimes have been reported one among all is the suicide case of Payal Tadvi, where the victim was so badly tortured and ragged by the three senior Doctors at BYL Nair Hospital as she belongs to the Scheduled Tribe.
We all have been part of bullying. There were times where we were the victims and times we were the part of the group bullying the other. From bullied by our elder cousins to seniors in the school, from teachers to the professor, from family to friends we all have been to the times when we were teased. But there are instances where bully crosses the line of harassment and it takes the face of crime.
Children are more vulnerable; any such act can so easily hit their mind which makes them mentally and emotionally weak. Sometimes, bully leaves such an impact on the victim that it becomes impossible for a being to behave normally. The common symptoms which are noted are quiet, shy, introvert, short temper, self-contained, anxiety, depression, loneliness.
There can also be cases where a person from outside seems to be normal but from inside he would develop a deterrent attitude with the time.
Regular hurt, humiliation can affect the children in their growing age, academics, career, and mental level. In fact, with the growing age children become so impulsive that they retaliate with others which makes them feel so relax and happy. So, bullying not only affects one but it’s a chain that effects one by one.
It is at a time difficult to define the behavior trait of a victim because at a time one becomes persistent by either involving themselves to drugs, alcohol, fights, loose self-control over their mind, body and behavior whereas, some build their own world and make themselves isolated from the world. There are victims who quit their life to get rid of being bullied. One of the recent cases ‘Rohit Vemula’ who committed suicide after being bullied for a long time because he belongs to the Dalit class. Rohit and his friends fought for the rights of the Dalits students. They were bullied by the political parties, college staff and in the end, Rohit gave up his life.
There are more factors that add up to the bullying resulting in suicide. The factors can be depression, problems at home, trauma history and mentally or physically weak and etc. There can be many factors which add up which force victim to attempt for suicide. A situation of helplessness and hopelessness makes the victim more close to suicidal thoughts. The role played here is of the parents, teachers, and peer groups. The study shows that people who communicate less or self-contained are more vulnerable. The first and foremost duty here falls is of parents or any well-wisher of the child who should create such an atmosphere that the child should not feel hesitant to share anything with them. A 19-year-old medical student name ‘Aman Kachroo’ was succumbed to death after badly been beaten and ragged by his seniors. In the said case parents of the victim gave the statement:-
“Aman used to tell us about ragging but we never thought that it was so serious. We’ve lost our son, but many others can be saved if timely steps are taken”.
There should not awareness among the parents and teachers because despite of strict rules there is no decrease in the cases. The awareness is the only way through which it can be stopped a proper session should be organized; a committee of parents and teachers must be formed so that parents can be reported of each and every activity of their children. This should be implemented especially at the college level.
“The views of the authors are personal“
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cyber bullying?
Cyber Bullying or cyber harassment is the form of bullying through electronic means. It is most common nowadays in teenagers. Bullying by circulating the pictures, making memes, videos, etc. It has more impact as it reaches more people and in no time things go viral. There are more cases now days are of cyber bullying which has resulted in suicide or other heinous crimes.
What is social bullying?
It is the most heinous type of bullying because in this one can rarely recognize the situation which the victim is facing. It includes spreading rumors, harm to reputation, playing nasty jokes, mimicking, isolating the person, ignorance, etc.
It has an adverse effect on the mind of the victim which later proves to be dangerous to the victim’s life.
What is workplace bullying?
“Bullying at work is repeated, unreasonable behavior directed towards an employee or a group of employees that creates a risk to health and safety. Bullying should not be miss-interpreted with the managerial work, overtime, anything related to office work conduct in a reasonable manner. It includes sexual abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, delaying in payment, humiliating inform of other employees, unreasonable rejections, derogatory rumors about the person, etc.
The Supreme Court of India has also made guidelines in the case of Vishakha vs the State of Rajasthan to protect the harassment of women at workplace
