Jadavpur University student alleges ragging by seniors, V-C says not sitting quiet

“I am not feeling safe as I am being subjected to physical gestures and cold glares by some boarders. Neither is it possible for me to carry on my study from outside. Please take me out of the particular block where I stay now and shift (me) to another hostel in the campus,” the student wrote in the complaint letter.

The student, who was residing in the CD block of the main hostel, left his hostel accommodation on Wednesday morning. The student hails from a village and did not pursue an undergraduate course at Jadavpur University, said sources

Speaking to media persons, officiating vice chancellor of Jadavpur University Buddhadeb Sau said, “We have come to know about it. The university is not sitting quiet. We are looking into this with utmost importance. The convenor of the anti-ragging committee will examine the matter.”

Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) general secretary Partha Pratim Roy told this newspaper that the university authorities must take concrete steps to stop the ragging menace. “The authorities need to take actual steps to address this issue. The officiating vice chancellor is not taking the internal committee report seriously which had called for action in the previous incident of ragging. Instead of taking measures against those who were involved in the previous incident, the vice chancellor is protecting the culprits,” said Roy.

On August 9, an undergraduate student of Jadavpur University died after falling from the same hostel building. The student had fallen off a second-floor balcony of the main hostel after alleged ragging and died at a private hospital the next morning.

A total of 13 people, including six undergraduate students, have so far been arrested in connection with the incident. The arrested persons included postgraduate students and a PhD researcher. The university later formed an anti-ragging committee which probed the incident and recommended ways to curb such occurrences. The move to bar the six students from entering the institute was taken almost two months after the recommendation by the anti-ragging committee of the varsity.