The first responder on behalf of Jadavpur University who reached the university’s main hostel on Wednesday night said she saw a first-year MTech computer science student sitting on a bed in room No. 10 with many others, who were making him write an “undertaking” on a piece of paper.

The first words that Biswajit Pramanik, the MTech student, uttered seeing the university’s medical superintendent, Mitali Deb, even without her asking anything, were: “Aami churi korechhi, aami churi korechhi (I am the thief, I am the thief).”

Deb recounted that scene and what followed on Wednesday night in a conversation with Metro on Friday.

She rescued Biswajit from the hostel despite being allegedly stopped at least twice by students.

Deb said she found Biswajit “incoherent” and “inconsistent” and found him rushing for his mobile phone the moment she asked the other inmates to vacate the room and bolted the door from inside.

Deb, who had said on Thursday that there was no sign of assault, said on Friday her first reaction was based on what she saw. “But on introspection”, she said, she could sense the pressure the boy was under.

It prompted her to submit a report to the JU vice-chancellor on Friday and request a “detailed inquiry”.

“I said yesterday what I saw and that was my instant reaction. There was no time to think. But as I thought about the incident overnight, I realised what I saw was just an hour from the boy’s life. But what could have happened before this, I have no idea. None of the authorities knew whether something had happened. If anyone has pressured him in any way, we are unaware of that. That is why I have requested the authorities to conduct an inquiry and bring out the truth,” Deb said on Friday.

Reaching the hostel compound on Wednesday night, the doctor was taken to room No. 10 of CD Block where Biswajit stays.

“Although the boys standing in the corridor were having heated arguments and were shouting, everything was silent inside the room. He (Biswajit) was wearing shorts and a T-shirt like any boy of his age. There was nothing to hint at any foul play. But the moment Biswajit saw me, he started uttering he was the ‘thief’, even before I had asked him anything. That struck me,” Deb said.

Deb asked the other boys to vacate the room and bolted the door. The moment the boys stepped out, Biswajit dialled his father’s number and was heard saying that he was all right and there was nothing to worry about.

“I realised there must have been something to worry about for which Biswajit was trying to convince his father not to worry. I took the phone and assured his father that I was rescuing him and taking him to the hospital,” Deb said.

The doctor found Biswajit’s blood pressure and pulse on the higher side.

“His pulse was 120 and his blood pressure was 150/80. Boys of his age do not have such parameters unless under mental stress or are ill,” she said.

Deb said she grabbed Biswajit’s hand and pulled him through the crowd waiting outside. They were stopped. The hostel residents gathered in the corridor demanded a written undertaking from the doctor before allowing Biswajit to move out with her.

Deb refused and went on to take Biswajit to the ambulance, sources in the hostel said.

She was stopped again after Biswajit boarded the ambulance.

“I was asked to leave in my car and told that the ambulance would come later. That was out of the question. I left the campus only after the ambulance with Biswajit left,” she said.

Biswajit’s parameters were near normal in the hospital after he was administered oxygen and saline.

Deb, who was also a member of the team that probed the death of a 17-year-old
undergraduate student last year, said “that incident” always plays at the back of her mind.

She said she had informed the university that she tore the piece of paper on which “Biswajit was writing the undertaking”.

“I felt if there was any foul play, he should not get trapped because of what he was writing, which he was visibly made to write. So I destroyed it. I did not read it,” she said.

The doctor, the mother of a 20-year-old, added she had requested the JU authorities to ensure that “no child faces any harassment”.

“These children (who come from the districts) should be protected. Seeing Biswajit I just felt that his parents were not here and someone had to protect him.”

Biswajit hails from a remote village in Purulia’s Baghmundi.