attending Sri Lankan universities. Ragging at private universities and higher education institutes are at a minimum as compared to government universities which has prompted many students with financial means to enroll in private establishments. Ragging is not merely a sociolegal problem and has a certain psychological basis too. Many senior students state they do not wish to rag juniors but succumb to peer pressure. On the other hand, although some new students or freshers enjoyed being ragged by their seniors, other students despised it. Following their ragging they did not even wish to talk to the senior students who subjected them to "inhumane mental and physical torture". Major incidents In 1974, ragging of trainee mathematics teachers at the then Vidyalankara University (now University of Kelaniya) prompted Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike's Government to appoint V. W. Kularatne Commission to probe the incident. As a result, 12 undergraduates were expelled and four officials were penalized for their failure to take appropriate action. This was the first major step taken against university ragging by a Sri Lankan government. In 1975, the University of Peradeniya reported the first ragging-related death when a 22-year-old female student of the Faculty of Agriculture, Rupa Rathnaseeli became paralyzed as a result of jumping from the second floor of the hostel Ramanathan Hall to escape the physical ragging carried out by her seniors. It was reported that she was about to be sexually penetrated by a foreign object as part of the ragging initiation – she jumped out of the hostel building to escape the abuse. Rupa Rathnaseeli committed suicide in 2002. Prasanga Niroshana, a student from Hakmana, died as a result of undisclosed injuries he sustained from ragging at the School of Agriculture, Angunakolapallassa. In 1997, 21-year-old S. Varapragash, an engineering student of University of Peradeniya, died from kidney failure following severe ragging by senior students. The main accused Balendran Prasad Sadeeskaran fled and was sentenced to death in absentia. In 1997, Kelum Thushara Wijetunge, a first-year student at the Hardy Technical institute in Ampara, died from kidney failure after he was forced to do tough exercises and drink excessive quantities of liquor. In 2002, Samantha Vithanage, a third-year management student at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, who pioneered an anti-ragging campaign, was killed at a meeting while in a discussion on ragging after being surrounded by a mob of 200, being struck with shards of glass, &