Data: Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh & West Bengal Account for More Than 35% of the Complaints Made on the National Anti-Ragging Portal
Data from the National Anti-Ragging Portal indicates that between 2012–2025, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh consistently reported the highest number of ragging complaints, each registering over 1,000 cases. Together, these three states accounted for roughly 35% to 40% of all cases reported nationwide each year.
In an earlier story, we explored how ragging continues to plague higher education institutions across India, particularly medical and nursing colleges. Despite regulatory measures and monitoring mechanisms like the National Anti-Ragging Helpline and Portal, the problem remains widespread. Our analysis of complaint data from the portal and responses in Parliament revealed that over 10,000 cases were reported in the last 14 years, with a sharp rise in recent years, peaking at 1,094 in 2022. Alarmingly, medical colleges, though fewer in number, accounted for more complaints than large technical institutions, suggesting they are disproportionately affected.
We also found that over 50 serious cases between 2022 and 2025 involved student deaths, suicides, or attempts. While the Anti-Ragging Portal has made complaint filing more accessible, issues with inconsistent data entries and underreporting persist. In the same piece, we outlined how students can register complaints via the portal, email, or helpline.
In this follow-up, we look at state-wise trends to analyse where ragging is reported the most, how the numbers differ across regions, and what the data suggests about the spread and concentration of cases across the country.
Datasets of ragging complaints registered on the Anti-Ragging Portal—both before and after April 2022—are available on Dataful.
As noted in the previous story, the Anti-Ragging Portal presents complaint data in two separate sections—one for reports filed until April 2022 and another for those submitted afterwards, each with a different reporting format. Throughout this story, references to 2022 data include the combined total from both sections, unless stated otherwise. Further, the 2025 data is as of May 2025.
At the national level, the overall pattern in the number of ragging complaints registered in the portal shows a decline in complaints after 2013, followed by a steady increase until 2019. There was a noticeable drop in 2020, and then a sharp rise in recent years. A similar trend is observed across some of the major states such as Assam, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
Number of Registered cases quadrupled in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal
Across most states and union territories, there is a noticeable increase in reported ragging cases over time, particularly after 2015. For example, Uttar Pradesh saw a sharp rise from 79 complaints in 2012, more than doubling to 186 cases in both 2018 and 2024. Bihar also showed a consistent increase, with cases almost tripling from 31 in 2012 to 91 in 2023. Madhya Pradesh recorded a steep rise from 31 cases in 2012 to a peak of 136 in 2018, more than quadrupling over the period. Meanwhile, West Bengal also witnessed a significant increase, with cases rising nearly fourfold from 33 in 2012 to 121 in 2023, followed by a slight decline in 2024.
Similar upward trends followed by recent moderation are observed in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. These states experienced consistent increases in ragging cases up to around 2018–2019. Kerala peaked at 65 cases in 2018, Tamil Nadu at 60 in 2019, while Maharashtra also recorded its highest count in 2018, with elevated numbers sustained through the subsequent years. Following a dip during the pandemic years, these states also witnessed an increase in the number of cases in 2022 and 2023.
In contrast, Punjab and Gujarat have shown relatively stable and low-to-moderate levels of ragging cases across the years. Both states recorded modest fluctuations without large peaks or declines, maintaining a consistent pattern even post-pandemic. Rajasthan, meanwhile, demonstrated a more volatile trend. While the overall direction has been upward, rising from 23 in 2012 to peaks like 58 in 2019 and 54 in 2024, the numbers fluctuated significantly from year to year, suggesting an inconsistent pattern of reporting.
Central and northern states have reported more ragging cases
Regional trends in ragging complaints show that the northern and central regions, covering the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan, consistently reported high numbers. Southern states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka show moderately high but relatively stable figures over the years. The North-Eastern states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Meghalaya, display very low and inconsistent reporting. Among Union Territories, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, and Puducherry register minimal complaints across the years.
More than 1000 cases have been reported in UP, MP, and West Bengal
Throughout the 2012–2025 period, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh consistently reported the highest number of ragging complaints, each registering over 1,000 cases, with 1,592 in Uttar Pradesh, 1,041 in West Bengal, and 1,006 in Madhya Pradesh. Together, these three states accounted for roughly 35% to 40% of all cases reported nationwide each year.
Uttar Pradesh consistently recorded the highest number of ragging complaints in the country, topping the list in 13 out of the 14 years between 2012 and 2025. The only exception was in 2015, when West Bengal briefly reported more cases.
1 in 3 cases in UP are in medical institutions
In Uttar Pradesh, about one in every three cases was filed (between 2022 and May 2025) with the National Medical Commission (NMC), while complaints to the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) made up around 15–20% of the total. Notably, Uttar Pradesh has a large number of medical and technical institutions, which may partially explain the higher volume of complaints.
However, other states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, which also have a significant intake capacity for both AICTE- and NMC-regulated courses, reported comparatively fewer ragging incidents. This contrast raises questions about the role of institutional practices, enforcement, and reporting culture in shaping complaint trends.
State specific legislations exist to deal with ragging
It is important to note that several states have their own state-specific anti-ragging legislations and regulations. These state-specific laws often provide detailed definitions of ragging, outline penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment, and establish mechanisms for prevention and redressal within educational institutions. For example, Tamil Nadu has the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1997, Kerala has the Kerala Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1998, and Maharashtra’s Prohibition of Ragging Act, 1999 prescribes penalties including imprisonment up to two years and fines up to Rs.10,000. Other states with dedicated anti-ragging laws include West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh.
However, not all states have such specific laws; in those cases, institutions rely on central regulations and guidelines provided by bodies like the University Grants Commission (UGC), the AICTE, and the NMC.
This variation in legal frameworks could influence the patterns seen in complaint data on the national Anti-Ragging Portal. States with dedicated legislation and local enforcement mechanisms may have alternative, state-level reporting channels, which might reduce the number of complaints registered on the national portal. Conversely, states without such laws may rely more heavily on the national portal, potentially increasing their reported figures there. Therefore, while the national data provides a valuable overview of ragging incidents, interpreting these figures requires considering how state-specific laws and enforcement mechanisms may impact reporting behaviour and complaint registration