JU ragging: Arrested students not to enter campus till acquitted of charges

Kolkata: The 13 arrested in connection with the death of the Jadavpur University fresher allegedly due to ragging and sexual molestation at the hostel will not be allowed to either enter its premises or the campus, according to a decision by the varsity's executive council.

They have also been barred from taking part in academic activities till they are exonerated in the case, a university official said on Wednesday.

The arrested include four students of the prestigious institute and the prohibition on them will hold good even if they are on bail or parole, he said.

The executive council meeting, however, rescinded its initial decision to bar the entry to the boys' hostel of over 30 seniors accused of aiding and abetting the crime, the official told PTI.

The decisions were taken on Tuesday night based on the recommendations of the internal inquiry committee report, submitted about a month ago.

"The EC decided unanimously not to allow those students who have been booked under POCSO and are now in custody, to enter the premises of the university till their names are cleared. The same applies to any researcher who is no more a post graduate student and is currently under arrest in connection with the August 9 ragging and death," the official said.

A senior faculty member who was present at the EC meeting said, "The initial decision was to disallow the entry of 30 senior boarders to the hostel but it was not finalised."

The 17-year-old Bengali honours student from Nadia had died after falling from the second floor balcony of the boys' main hostel on August 9 midnight, just four days after joining it as a guest of an ex-student who had been overstaying in the building for months. The fresher was rushed to a nearby hospital by the students and died there the next day.

The council also decided to seek from the heads of departments their opinions on holding online classes in view of the report that about nine students staying in the hostel have been affected by dengue, the official said.

An office bearer of the SFI-affiliated Arts Faculty Students Union of the university, Souryadipto Roy said "We demanded that only first year students be lodged in a block of the boys' main hostel, which has earlier been promised by the institute. But it is yet to be implemented ... Instead the internal commitee recommendation to bar the entry of 30 seniors to the hostel has not been accepted.

"The executive committee on Tuesday promised to keep one block ready exclusively for the first year students by October 10. If they do not, we will launch a strong movement to press for it and for action against those named in the report on the incident. We want an end to ragging and bullying but the students as stakeholders must be consulted", he added.

Meanwhile, the Jadavpur University Teachers' Association general secretary Partha Pratim Roy told PTI that the association in a letter to the registrar sought to know the protocol behind the holding of the meeting under the officiating VC. The JUTA in its letter cited the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Administration & Regulation) Act 2017 and said "The person holding the charge of the office of the vice-chancellor.....shall not hold any meeting....Syndicate/executive council....of the university without prior permisison of the state government."

To a query on whether the university got any prior consent to hold the meeting, the registrar replied on September 26 that as per the statute a letter was sent to the higher education department regarding the issue of conduct of the EC meeting but no reply has yet been received.