Several former students of Jadavpur University came together on Monday and carried out a silent protest march across the campus demanding “exemplary punishment” for those who were behind the death of the 17-year-old first-year student of the university who fell to his death from a hostel building last Wednesday.
The former students demanded the installation of CCTV cameras and timely intervention of the JU authorities to prevent the reoccurrence of such incidents.
“I understand there has been a philosophical difference in opinion over the installation of cameras on the campus. I also understand that by keeping the first-year students in a separate building we are segregating them. But when we are dealing with animals, we need to do what needs to be done to save these young lives,” said Saumitra Basu, a former student and professor of the Bengali department at Jadavpur University.
“We demand exemplary punishment for those who did this so that no one in future could even think of doing anything like this.”
Students demand a probe into the first-year student’s death in front of Aurobindo Bhavan on the JU campus. Bishwarup Dutta
The group of former students started their march from gate number three of the
university and went to the administrative building to submit a memorandum of demand to pro-VC Amitava Datta.
Separate student rallies were organised across the city demanding justice for the 17-year-old first-year student.
Asked, if they feel there were lacunae on behalf of the university authority, one of the ex-students said: “What were the authorities doing? What was the hostel superintendent doing? How did students turn into a lawless group.”
“For whatever reason, the (UGC) guidelines could not be executed. But now we really need to follow them,” said another former student Monisha Chowdhury.
One of the former students of the Bengali department said when they were students, the freshers used to be subjected to “innocent pranks” that cannot be categorised as ragging.
“Ragging used to happen in engineering departments. But we had never heard anything like this anywhere on the campus,” he said.
“A precious life is lost. We can carry out a movement in protest but the family has suffered from an irreparable loss. This has to stop. I do not think the university did anything to stop it.” Tapashi Mukherjee.
JU’s alumni association take out rallies on Monday morning demanding a probe into the first-year student’s death. Bishwarup Dutta
Separate student rallies were organised across the city demanding justice for the 17-year-old first-year student.
A group of students carried out a demonstration inside the Presidency University campus, while students of Aliah University organised a protest rally near Park Circus demanding justice for the deceased.
Students affiliated with the Trinamul Congress Chatra Parishad marched from Dakshinapan to Jadavpur University on Monday morning while the Left-wing parties marched from Jadavpur police station to the 8B bus stand.