Jadavpur University has informed the UGC that it is “true” that it did not follow the “practice of surprise visit” to hostels by its anti-ragging squad.
The UGC had accused the university of never conducting any “surprise raids” on hostels. The revelation came after a UGC team visited the campus in August, following the death of a first-year student who had allegedly been ragged at the JU Main Hostel.
The lack of “surprise raids”, the UGC’s joint secretary had written to JU in
September, is a violation of Clause 6.3(d) of the UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in HEIs (higher education institutions), 2009.
JU registrar Snehamanju Basu wrote back to the UGC on October 17: “It is true
that there was no practice of surprise visit by the anti-ragging squad as a whole.... Now it has been decided by the squad that a log book will be maintained for such surprise visit at the hostel in the days to come.”
The registrar has also informed the UGC that students staying in hostels will be segregated based on their year of study.
In its previous communication, the UGC had criticised the university for not lodging freshers’ in a hostel where senior students would be denied access.
Registrar Basu declined to comment on the issue when contacted by this newspaper.
The 17-year-old first- year student was allegedly thrown off a second-floor balcony of the main hostel by senior students late on August 9. He died early on August 10.
A JU official said the student might have been still alive had the UGC-stipulated practice of surprise visits to hostels been followed.
“An internal committee of JU that investigated the death said ragging was prevalent at the main hostel. This has become a menace in the absence of surprise visits by the anti-ragging squad,” the official said.
In her letter to the UGC, the registrar has written: “The UG-1 students have been housed under separate wings/blocks of the hostel. They are not mixed with the senior students like before while sharing the rooms of the hostels.”
“Moreover, the university has already taken a decision about year-wise hostels
for all classes (UG-1, UG-2, UG-3, UG-4) in its executive council meeting dated 11.10.23….”