Jadavpur University (JU) has decided to install CCTV cameras at the entry-exit points of the hostels and the campus, seven days after the death of a first-year student who was allegedly ragged at the main hostel.
JU registrar Snehamanju Basu announced the decision to install CCTV cameras and a slew of others measures, one of which require every individual to produce a JU-issued identity card “on demand” for entering the campus between 8pm and 7am.
Those who do not have a JU-issued identity card has
to show any other valid
identity document and enter certain information in the register before entering the campus.
“We have decided to install CCTV cameras at many strategic points, which include the gate of the hostels and the university campus. This decision was taken in a meeting on Thursday, attended by senior officials of the university,” Basu said.
When The Telegraph sought to know whether CCTVs would be installed in corridors of the hostels, she said: “That has not been decided yet. There are so many technicalities associated with this decision. I cannot comment now on that matter. We have decided to install CCTV cameras mainly at strategic points.”
She said that issues like whether CCTV cameras would be installed in hostel corridors could be decided by the Executive Council, the highest decision-making body of the university.
A JU official said cameras would be installed on the facade of Aurobindo Bhavan, the administrative headquarters of the university.
The decision on installing the CCTVs came after a flip-flop.
A senior official at the university had told this newspaper on Monday afternoon that the anti-ragging committee of JU had “proposed” the installation of CCTV cameras at the hostels.
In the evening, the same official had said no such decision had been taken and the Executive Council would “discuss” the issue. His comment came barely an hour after protests by students against the move to install CCTV cameras on the campus.
What prompted the JU authorities to finally decide on the installation of the cameras?
“The police sought CCTV footage of the hostel from the university’s registrar after starting the investigation into the death of the first-year student. She could not give the footage as there were no cameras. In its show-cause notice to JU, the commission for protection of child rights highlighted the absence of CCTV cameras. All
these might have led to Thursday’s decision,” said a JU official.
The university during the day issued a circular saying: “All individuals who want to enter the campus between 8pm and 7am will have to carry valid identity cards issued by Jadavpur University. It has to be produced on demand.”
The notice said: “If a person does not have an ID card issued by Jadavpur University, he or she will have to produce some other valid proof of identity and enter the details of the person, where he or she is going to meet the person (including the contact number of the said person) in a register kept at the gate of the university.”
The circular says two-wheelers or four-wheelers entering the campus must have a sticker issued by the university attached to it.
The registration numbers of the vehicles without such stickers have to be recorded at the gates.
“A valid ID card of the vehicle’s driver/passengers will have to be produced on demand. The use of alcohol, narcotics or other illegal substances is strictly prohibited in any part of the campus. If anyone is found with such activity, he or she will be prosecuted as per law,” says the circular.
A section of students started a protest soon after the decision on the installation of CCTV cameras was announced.