A week after the death of a medical student allegedly due to ragging, the Himachal Pradesh [Images] government says it is preparing to bring in a new ordinance to check the menace since the one issued in 1992 was neither revalidated nor replaced by a legislative enactment.

"I have directed the Home department to prepare a new ordinance against ragging in the state," Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, whose government is facing flak over the death of 19-year-old Aman Kachroo of Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, told PTI.

He said the new ordinance is likely to come into effect as early as next week. "The home department has started working on it and after consulting the law department, hopefully, the new ordinance will come into force next week," Dhumal said.

The government move comes after police booked four senior students of the medical college under 302 (murder) based on an autopsy report and the provisions of the ordinance brought by the then Shanta Kumar government in 1992. Since the 1992 ordinance was neither revalidated nor replaced by legislative enactment in the past 17 years, it lost legal teeth.

Dhumal said the ordinance will be tabled in the coming monsoon session of the state assembly. Only four states--Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala [Images] and West Bengal--have enacted laws to ban ragging in educationalinstitutions.