• Opine that such harassment and violation of privacy will pit students against law enforcement  

The Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF) and the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) are of the view that the Government’s decision to check university hostels at night to prevent ragging would create turmoil between university students and law enforcement authorities.

In the wake of Higher Education State Minister Dr. Suren Raghavan being reportedly directed by the Supreme Court (SC) to check university hostels at night to prevent incidents of ragging in hostels, IUSF Convenor Madushan Chandrajith blamed the Government for using its power to repress the university community in order to impede the impending student uprisings against the conduct of the Government. He told The Daily Morning that the Higher Education State Ministry has shamelessly launched a programme to hunt down student rights activists, adding that this move is part of that programme. He claimed that the Government’s intention is to control university students over various allegations, under the guise of ragging. 

“If this Government does this in good faith, they could have brought rules to prevent ragging instead of peeping into students’ hostels. This is a blatant violation of the privacy of students and the IUSF will never let anyone harass students,” he said.

Meanwhile, the FUTA said that it does not believe that such a measure will prevent ragging, noting that this could create unnecessary turmoil in the university system. Speaking to The Daily Morning, FUTA Spokesperson and senior lecturer Charudaththe Illangasinghe said that the FUTA does not support such a move which is also a form of harassment and violation of the students’ freedom.

Earlier, Dr. Raghavan said that the decision was taken due to information received that harassment is more common in hostels between 12 midnight and 5 a.m. With the implementation of the programme, there is a clear reduction of harassment-based activities, he said. The decision was announced by the SC over the incident of the Sri Jayawardenepura University (Management Faculty) student who suffered near-fatal injuries during a party organised for first-year students on 5 March 2020. The SC directed the Sri Jayewardenepura University Vice Chancellor to submit a report on the action taken against senior students who ragged first-year students, including a petitioner who suffered near-fatal injuries three years ago.