I want opinions on a college dispute under Indian anti-ragging law. A student had paid admission fees and submitted the anti-ragging undertaking. In an unofficial WhatsApp group, another student first claimed to be 22, later 21, and only subsequently said he was actually 17. A major/adult student had a private WhatsApp interaction with him, including a drooling emoji. The 17-year-old then shared the private-chat screenshot in the entire group and complained that he was being bullied/harassed. Later, another unofficial WhatsApp group was created and the major student was excluded, resulting in his social isolation. A complaint is nevertheless being made against the major student. Questions: If someone repeatedly represented himself as 21/22, can he later rely on being 17 when making a ragging/harassment complaint against someone who reasonably believed he was an adult? Does his age misrepresentation affect the adult student's mens rea, knowledge and culpability? Can excluding the adult student from the new group itself potentially amount to social boycott/harassment/ragging? If the only private communication was a drooling emoji, does publicly circulating the screenshot change the legal analysis? Should the anti-ragging committee examine both students' conduct, rather than treating the 17-year-old automatically as the victim? I'm particularly interested in arguments against my position too — i.e., why the adult student could still be liable despite the age misrepresentation.
How can I prove that I was deliberately excluded from a WhatsApp group? I requested to join a WhatsApp group and have screenshots showing my join request. Later, the status changed to “Pending.” I made another request, but there is no clear indication in WhatsApp that an admin actually rejected me. The admins could potentially argue that I cancelled the request myself. What is the best way to establish what actually happened? Is a screen recording of the request/status useful? Can WhatsApp provide any record showing whether an admin rejected the request or I cancelled it? Would screenshots with timestamps, witnesses, or messages asking the admin to add me help? Is there any way to obtain metadata or WhatsApp records that distinguish “admin rejected” from “user cancelled”? If the matter reaches a college disciplinary/anti-ragging committee, what evidence would be considered credible to prove deliberate exclusion rather than merely failure to be admitted? I am specifically looking for practical WhatsApp evidence/forensic advice, not whether exclusion itself legally constitutes ragging.
