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Expel 4 students for teenager’s death after ragging: Jadavpur University panel
13 persons including former Jadavpur University students were arrested in connection with the death of a 17-year-old student after he was allegedly ragged and sexually harassed
KOLKATA: An internal probe committee set up into the death of a first-year Jadavpur University student in the hostel on the campus last month has recommended the expulsion of four students, people familiar with the matter said.
“The internal committee has made certain recommendations, including expulsion of some students. At this state, we are not disclosing the exact recommendations made by the committee. All we can say is that the committee has suggested some minimum punishment for all students who were present in the block on that night,” Buddhadeb Sau, interim vice chancellor of the JU said.
A 17-year-old student allegedly jumped off the second floor of the university’s main hostel on the night of July 9 after he was ragged and sexually harassed. The student succumbed to his injures the following day.
Police registered a murder case on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim’s father. Over the next few weeks, 13 current and former students were arrested.
While the state government set up a four-member fact-finding committee to look into the administrative lapses and infrastructure gaps in the university, Governor CV Ananda Bose set up a panel headed by the former chief justice of the Karnataka high court Subhro Kamal Mukherjee to look into the issue and recommend steps to end ragging and violence on the campus.
“The internal probe committee’s recommendations would be placed before the university’s anti-ragging committee. The anti-ragging committee may further investigate or place the recommendations before the executive council which would take the final all,” said Sau.
A senior professor at the university said that the committee recommended expulsion of four students and registration of a police complaint against six former students. It also asked the authorities to bar at least 25 former students, who were illegally staying in the hostel, from the premises.
“It also recommended that five students be suspended for four semesters 11 students for two semesters and 15 students for one semester,” said the professor.
The student’s parents, who met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat on Monday, met Kolkata police commissioner on Tuesday. The state government has decided to give a job to the victim’s mother.
On Tuesday, a two-member team of the Indian Space Research Organization also visited the JU campus following a request by the governor to seek help to curb ragging incidents in colleges across the state.
