A number of students at Jadavpur University on Sunday held a demonstration outside the convocation venue to protest what they alleged was JU’s failure to take steps, as suggested by the anti-ragging committee of the institute, against students found guilty of ragging a minor.
The university has uploaded on its website the names of 12 present and former students who have been barred from entering any of its campuses following their arrest, “until they are duly discharged from the allegations” by court.
But the authorities are yet to take any steps against those who the university’s anti-ragging committee wants rusticated for one semester and expelled from JU hostels permanently following an internal probe, said a protesting student.
“The university has not yet formally communicated to these students about the actions recommended by the anti-ragging committee. They are just delaying it,” said a protester.
The anti-ragging committee has also recommended that some students be restricted from entering JU hostels for at least two years.
The first-year undergraduate student was allegedly ragged and thrown off a second-floor balcony of the JU Main Hostel on the night of August 9. He died early next morning in a hospital.
When asked about the protest, JU’s officiating VC Buddhadeb Sau said: “We can act on the recommendations of the committee only after the university holds a meeting of the executive council, the highest decision-making body.”
“The university could hold a meeting of the council on December 18 with the consent of the higher education department. But the government made it clear that the council could only discuss issues related to the annual convocation. No other issue could have been taken up. We don’t know when the council will meet next.”