West Bengal: HC asks edu dept to shut down all union rooms in colleges, universities

In a 2023 ragging case petition, the state told HC no student unions exist in colleges as elections haven’t been held, petitioner told the Calcutta HC bench

Kolkata: The Calcutta high court on Thursday, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a 24-year-old student inside a south Kolkata law college, directed the state education department to shut down union rooms in all colleges and universities across West Bengal.

Hearing a separate PIL, the court also directed the state to file an affidavit detailing the progress of the investigation into the gang-rape case (PTI)

“The division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De has directed the state education department to shut down union rooms in all colleges and universities across the state,” advocate and petitioner Sayan Banerjee said.

Hearing a separate PIL, the court also directed the state to file an affidavit detailing the progress of the investigation into the gang-rape case.

A 24-year-old student was allegedly gang-raped on June 25 inside the law college campus in Kasba. Former student of the college and now non-teaching staff Monojit Mishra (31), along with two students — Zaib Ahmed (19) and Pramit Mukherjee (20) — were arrested on June 26, while a security guard of the college was arrested the following day. Police said the alleged incident occurred between 7.30 pm and 10.50 pm, when the woman had gone to fill out some forms for an upcoming exam.

Petitioner Banerjee said that in a 2023 petition related to a ragging case, the state government had filed an affidavit before the division bench of then Calcutta high court chief justice TS Sivagnanam stating that there were no student unions or student councils in any colleges and universities in the state, as student elections had not been held.

The court said that such rooms cannot be used for any activity, and in case of an urgent need, an application must be submitted to the university registrar with valid reasons.

The woman — who was allegedly the TMCP’s women’s wing secretary in the college — was asked by the accused to stay back for some discussions, she said in her complaint, which HT has seen.

According to the social media account of Mishra — a former student of the college who is currently a non-teaching staffer — he was a key office-bearer of the student wing of the Trinamool Congress (TMC). However, the ruling party said he never held any important position.

In the complaint, the survivor said that Mishra works as a criminal lawyer in the Alipore court in Kolkata. He is also employed as a contractual staff member at the college.

Trinankur Bhattacharjee, state president of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), had said last week that the TMCP hasn’t had a running union in the college for the last few years.

“Even though student unions don’t exist, student union fees are collected from students. There are union rooms in colleges and universities. Fests and social events are being organised in the name of student unions and crores of rupees are being spent. Where is this money going? The law college gang-rape may not have happened had the illegal student’s union not been running in the college,” he added.

At least three separate petitions were filed before the division bench of Justice Sen after the law college gang-rape case. While Banerjee filed his petition questioning how union rooms could operate despite the absence of student unions, two other petitions sought a court-monitored probe into the incident.

“We have sought a probe by an independent agency which would be monitored by the high court. It could be a CBI probe or a probe by a retired judge. We have also raised five questions – how can Mishra, who was expelled from the college, take readmission? What were students and union leaders doing in the union room after college hours? How can weapons be found in the union room? How can a person with around 10 pending cases get a job in college? What steps have colleges and universities taken to ensure women’s safety,” advocate and petitioner in one PIL, Souma Subhra Ray, said.