A Million Winslows: private liability of universities for ragging in India

ABSTRACT Ragging has become a serious social evil. Millions of university students are ragged in India every year. While a perpetrator can be sued by the victim; it has not dented the escalation of ragging. Holding institutions responsible for preventing ragging is the only way to curb it. This can be by way of both public and private accountability of universities. The paper focuses on the latter. We submit a victim of ragging can sue the university for failure to prevent ragging for breach of the university–student contract, for negligence, under vicarious liability, breach of statutory duty, contravention of a non-delegable duty, and on the basis of misfeasance in public office by a rogue university officer. A private action will have a salutary effect on society, in particular universities.