SFI suspends JU unit leader following complaint of improper behaviour with girl student during trip

Kolkata, Sep 18 (PTI) Amid the row surrounding the death of a female student of Jadavpur University during a cultural programme organised by the Students’ Federation of India’s (SFI), a student leader has been suspended from the federation over allegations of improper conduct with a peer during a trip to Santiniketan, SFI said in a statement.

In an official statement issued on Wednesday evening, JU SFI unit president Russell Parvez said the organisation has suspended its assistant secretary, Soumik Mondal, with immediate effect, following internal discussions.

"On receiving a complaint of inappropriate conduct lodged with the student's union by a university female student during a tour to Santiniketan, we held discussions from unit level to local level and decided to suspend Mondal with immediate effect," Parvez said.

Till the completion of the probe, Soumik will be debarred from discharging organisational duties and prevented from attending programmes.

The suspended student leader was accused of molesting the woman, an English department student, during an educational trip of the department to Santiniketan recently.

On September 11, a third-year English Literature student was found unconscious in a pond on the night of September 11 during a cultural programme organised by the drama club of Arts Faculty Students Union and later declared dead at a nearby hospital.

While her parents said there was foul play behind her death and demanded a fair, extensive probe, the post-mortem examination indicated "drowning" as the possible cause.

Police, however, initiated a murder case after the parents lodged an official complaint in this regard.

The SFI in a statement demanded a thorough probe into her death and called for strict surveillance on the university campus to prevent any untoward incident and promised its cooperation into any step taken in the interest of students. PTI SUS MNB