Imagine an undercover cop disguised as a harmless college girl with books and a bag. It seems to be a plot right out of a detective movie. However, that's exactly what happened at a medical college in Indore.
Shalini Chouhan, a police constable under Madhya Pradesh police, recently cracked a case of ragging in a college. The 24-year-old cop was sent undercover disguised as a student at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College in Indore.
She was silently working on this project for around three months. She identified 11 senior students involved in inhumane ragging on junior students. The students were suspended from college and hostel for three months.
Constable Chouhan said that her approach was to take time to mix up with the students. She said that she had to reveal some things about her as well to establish a friendly rapport with students. This would lead to students opening up about the ragging incidents in the college as well. Constable Chouhan was asked if the students ever doubted her. She replied stating that she would change the topic immediately.
Senior Inspector Mr. Tehzeeb Qazi said that they had received many complaints about ragging from junior students. The junior students alleged that they were made to do vulgar acts. However, the junior students did not want to reveal their names fearing harassment.
Mr. Qazi said that the students would get scared to share their concerns if they see a police constable on their campus in uniform. This forced him to carry out an operation wherein a police constable would pretend to be a college student. He appointed constable Chouhan to disguise herself as a college student and interact with junior students. This led to the junior students opening up about the horrible acts of ragging faced by them. The police officers were, therefore, able to get witnesses and crack the case.
In India, under the anti-ragging law, if a student is found guilty of ragging, that student can be fined and imprisoned for three years.