AG submits to SC guidelines for preventing ragging in state universities

By AJA Abeynayake

The Attorney General informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday (25) that a set of guidelines had been formulated to prevent incidents of ragging in state universities. Deputy Solicitor General Dr. Avanthi Perera said so on behalf of the AG when a fundamental rights petition filed by Pasindu Harshana Silva, a student who had been injured during a ragging incident at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in 2020, was taken up.

The case was heard before a three-member Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, Justice Shiran Gunaratne, and Justice Priyantha Fernando. Dr. Perera mentioned that the guidelines had been distributed to all universities for public consultation, and the Chief Justice instructed that a final draft be submitted to the court.

The respondent has named in the petition include the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and its Vice Chancellor, 16 other universities including Colombo and Kelaniya, the University Grants Commission, the Minister of Higher Education, the Inspector General, and the Attorney General among others.

The petitioner, who was a first-year student at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in 2020, claims to have sustained serious head and brain injuries due to an accident that occurred during ragging. He is seeking an order directing the authorities to formulate guidelines to prevent such unfortunate incidents from happening within the university system in the future. President’s Counsel Shavindra Fernando appeared for the petitioner.