Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court on Thursday, February 22, 2024 gave a piece of his mind to eight college students facing a criminal case for having ragged a co-student by tonsuring his head, beating him black and blue with a belt and locking him up in a hostel room for five hours because he refused to give them money to purchase liquor.
“What is the purpose of going to college if you will indulge in abhorrent acts such as ragging? It is better to remain illiterate and uneducated than indulging in such acts. There is no meaning in getting educated if you lack discipline. I really don’t understand what pleasure can somebody get by putting another person to misery,” the judge asked the accused.
When the students told the judge that it was a mistake and that they shall not repeat it any more, he asked: “What more is there for you to not do? You have already done great harm. Do you even understand how much of pain that boy would have undergone? What is the point in reading Tirukkural when you are in school if you are not going to follow it in our life?”
