NEW DELHI, Feb. 24 -- The screams are silent. The bruises fade, but the scars fester. On 12 February, an uncomfortable truth came to light. For three harrowing months, a group of first-year nursing students at a Kerala college were subjected to a campaign of escalating torment, a chilling testament to the enduring brutality of ragging in India's institutions.

Five senior students, barely out of their teens, now face accusations of unspeakable cruelty: binding their juniors, smearing their bodies with lotions, and even carving into their skin with a sharp weapon, forcing them to watch and record the sickening acts.

This isn't an isolated incident, a mere blip on the radar of youthful indiscretion. It's a festering wound, a symptom of a d...