Friday marks three months of the death of a first-year student but Jadavpur University is yet to take any action against those the university in its probe found responsible for ragging.
The report of an internal committee that said the student “was singled out for ragging” on the night of August 9 and the ragging was “carried out in a systematic planned manner” at the main hostel has moved back and forth between JU’s anti-ragging committee and the anti-ragging squad over the past two months.
The university stands accused of dragging its feet.
The father of the deceased student told this newspaper: “The university administration has failed us. Three months into the death, they could not take action against anyone. If this goes on, many more would meet the fate of my son.
“We heard that the university found many responsible for the death of my son in its own probe. Apart from residents of the A-2 block of the main hostel, the dean of students and the hostel superintendents were also found guilty of not going to that part of the hostel despite being alerted about ragging there. What action has been taken against those errant officials?”
The student was allegedly thrown off a second-floor balcony by senior students on August 9 night. The 17-year-old died in hospital on August 10.
He would have turned 18 on October 31.
JU’s anti-ragging committee, which is authorised to decide the quantum of punishment, met on October 31, not to take any action but to ask the anti-ragging squad to revisit the findings to address “inconsistencies”. The Telegraph had reported on October 2 that the squad had examined the committee’s report earlier.
The squad met again on October 4 and made some observations. But it took the university almost a month to place the observations before the anti-ragging committee, which then resolved that the squad would start addressing the inconsistencies pertaining to taking depositions and recommending blanket penal measures.
The student’s father said that had the JU administration segregated the hostel for freshers in keeping with what the UGC had said in 2009, his son would not have died.
“There were no surprise visits to hostels by the anti-ragging squad. Had there been surprise visits, my son would have still been alive. Now they seem to be failing in taking action against the offenders,” he said.
JU officiating VC Buddhadeb Sau told Metro on Thursday: “We want to track those who are the actual offenders by addressing the inconsistencies in the report. We are awaiting a response from the anti-ragging squad, based on which the university will proceed.”