The teachers of Jadavpur University wrote to their vice-chancellor asking for regular visits to hostels by the anti-ragging squad along with teams comprising teachers and staff so they can curb cases of ragging.

The teachers have said in their letter, dated July 4, that every department should have its anti-ragging squad and workshops should be arranged separately for the first-year and senior classes to sensitise the students against the menace of ragging.

The demand for regular hostel visits by the anti-ragging squad assumes significance because the JU had informed the UGC last year that it was “true” that the university did not follow the “practice of surprise visit” to hostels by its anti-ragging squad.

The revelation came after a UGC team visited the campus in August last year following the death of a first-year student who had allegedly been ragged at the JU Main Hostel.

The executive council met on July 5, a day after the teachers sought implementation of the decisions taken by the anti-ragging committee.
The council has decided to serve show-cause notices to those implicated by the committee in the complaints of ragging a first-year student last year.

The decision comes nearly 11 months after the death of the student because of an alleged ragging at the main hostel.

The letter signed by Parthapratim Ray, the general secretary of Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association says: “Our proposals for the eradication of ragging in the institution: There should be regular visits to the hostels by the anti-ragging squad along with the official teams.”

Senior students of the university allegedly threw the 17-year-old first-year student from the second-floor balcony of the main hostel on August 9 last year. He died early on
August 10.

The report of the anti-ragging committee, which Metro has accessed, says five residents of the main hostel have been identified to have been present on the second floor of Block A/2 of the main hostel during the mishap “may be rusticated for four semesters and expelled from JU hostels permanently.

The committee has also recommended that 25 hostel residents be rusticated for one semester and expelled from hostels permanently as they were “directly associated with abetment to ragging”.

A JU official said the UGC Regulations on Curbing the Menace of Ragging in HEIs (higher education institutions), 2009, mandated that an institution’s anti-ragging squad should carry out “surprise” visits or raids on hostels.

Roy said: “The practice of visits to the hostels by the anti-ragging squad has been discontinued at JU. Therefore, we told the VC to resume the practice immediately. After the first-year students are admitted, we want the university to organise workshops to sensitise the students against the menace of ragging.”

The teachers have sought separate hostels for the second-year students as well.

The university has segregated the first-year students following what happened
last August.

JU interim VC Bhaskar Gupta said in a text message to this newspaper: “I appreciate their positive approach and request the cooperation of all to curb the menace of ragging.”