South Calcutta Law College, which had last week issued a notice saying no students’ union activities would be allowed “till the union election is held”, has dropped the bar in a revised notice.
The curb was announced after a first-year student of the college had complained that he had been ragged by members of the students’ union.
The revised notice, signed by the president of the governing body of the college, Ashok Deb, who is also a Trinamul MLA, has the crucial line struck off with blue ink. The notice was uploaded on the college’s website on December 12.
The earlier notice, which, too, was signed by Deb and was put up on the college’s website on December 9, had said: “Till the students’ union election is conducted, no students’ unit activities will be conducted…. ”
Calls and text messages from this newspaper to Deb and vice-principal Nayna Chatterji, who is teacher-in-charge of the college, failed to elicit any response.
The first-year student had allegedly been assaulted on December 2 inside the students’ union office in the college to force him to join the union and pay subscriptions.
The student lodged a complaint with the UGC’s anti-ragging helpline on December 3 and the vice-principal on December 5.
On December 7, he and his family members, who were asked by the authorities to meet them following the ragging complaint, were allegedly assaulted on the campus in the presence of the governing body president and the vice-principal.
“My father lodged an FIR with Kasba police station the same day. The college came up with a notice on December 9, putting a bar on the students’ union activities. I thought the bar was imposed because of my complaints. But it was struck down within days,” the student told The Telegraph on Wednesday.
The college has also asked the first-year student and several senior students to stay away from the campus till a committee completes its probe into the rigging allegations.
“I have been barred from the college for some inexplicable reasons. No one from the college has contacted me so far asking me to return. The fact-finding committee sent me an email on Wednesday afternoon asking me to be present in the office of the vice-principal on December 21. They want to hear from me the allegations in detail,” the student said.
Education minister Bratya Basu said on Wednesday: “What has happened is bad. I am looking into it.”
An FIR has been drawn up based on the complaint by the student’s father and several senior students have been charged under various IPC sections.