Bring my son back or hand over his killers to me: Mother of Jadavpur University student

The victim’s family members, who have been staying at their relative’s house nearly 15 kilometres from their residence in their home district Nadia since the incident, said the death has left unanswered several questions like why an ambulance was not called, and why the police were not allowed to enter the hostel premises.

The family too was not informed by the university authorities about the incident on time, the parents have alleged.

The teenage victim’s mother, a health worker, said, “Our son wasn’t allotted a room. In fact, he was asked to stay as a guest with one of the boarders. Were the authorities not aware of mismanagement in hostels? Why the UGC guidelines were not followed? We could not afford to pay for guest accommodation. Isn’t it the responsibility of university authorities to ensure the safety of new students? There was no transparency on how many beds or rooms were there.”

“We don’t have money to go to court. I appeal to everyone to come forward in our fight for justice,” she added.
Sitting nearby, her younger son said, “I want to study mechanical engineering. I told him that I will also join JU in two years. I wish I was there to save him. He wanted to come home and share a few things.”

Calling himself the “biggest culprit”, the victim’s father, an employee with a cooperative bank, said, “Just imagine what an unfortunate father I am. Who else should I blame for this? It was foolish of me to believe that he was in safe hands. I was so proud that he was going to JU. I wonder how I could leave him there.”

Utpal Biswas, the headmaster of Bagula High School where the boy studied, said, “I am shocked. He was an obedient student. He would come to me if he had doubts about chemistry.

His killers should be in jail. He was good in science but he wanted to pursue Bangla.”

Proshanta Biswas, the victim’s Bangla tutor, said he helped the 17-year-old prepare for the varsity’s entrance test and gave him some books. “I taught him Bangla since he was in class 9. He would sit for hours to clear his doubts. He had a keen interest in the language and loved it. When he said he would take Bangla I supported him. But I warned him against staying in a hostel,” Proshanta said.
The deceased’s maternal uncle said, “His death has killed many dreams. Not many would want their children to go and stay in a hostel in Kolkata.”

The victim’s mother added, “He had a special interest in languages. He was scared the last time we talked to him on August 9. He said ‘Mother, I want to tell you so many things and I am really scared’. I along with my younger son tried to calm him down but he disconnected the phone after a while. Our family has been destroyed.”

Saloni Adhikari, a class 11 student at Bogula High School, recalled that the deceased was every teacher’s favourite.
“He was my senior and we would take tuitions from the same teachers. Though I never interacted with him but after he got into Jadavpur University all our teachers were telling us how we could also dream big. I remember him as a polite boy.”

Saloni’s mother Sobha Adhikari said, “My daughter is in class 11 and studying science. This incident has shocked us. I will send my daughter to a local college as I don’t want to take any risk.”

Also, political leaders like MPs and MLAs, teachers besides the family’s relatives are reaching out to the family, extending their condolences.

3 more arrested in case

Meanwhile, three more arrests were made in connection with the Jadavpur University student’s death, the police said. Those arrested were identified as Himanshu Karmakar, a PhD in data science, Satyabrata Rai, a fourth-year computer science student and Sheikh Nasim Akhtar, a university passout in chemistry.

Himanshu is from Shamsherganj in Murshidabad, Satyabrata from Santoshpur, Haringhata and Akhtar is from Memari in Purba Burdwan district.

So far, a total of 12 persons, including students and alumni, have been arrested in the case.