JU fresher’s death: 3 senior students perennially accused of covering up ragging cases identified

Kolkata: An internal probe committee of Kolkata's Jadavpur University (JU), formed in the wake of the ragging-related death of a fresher on August 10, has identified three senior students being perpetually accused of covering up events of ragging within the varsity campus.

All the three senior students identified by the internal probe committee on this account are leading faces of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students' Union (FETSU), the student’s union of the engineering division of the reputed university.

JU insiders said that the internal probe committee has also detailed on the kind of harassment and psychological ragging that the fresher or first-year students, especially those being accommodated at the students’ hostels, in the hands of a section of the senior students residing at the same hostel.

“From dress code to hair-style to being followed by the fresher students, everything was determined by this section of the senior students,” a JU insider said on strict condition of anonymity.

Worse, fresher students from suburbs getting admission to their dream university, and not geting over the initial mental block of freely interacting with their female batch-mates, were often bombarded with extremely uncomfortable questions concerning their sexual orientation.

This particular phenomenon of extreme psychological ragging surfaced in the case of the death of the fresher student on August 10, as the night before the tragedy, the minor victim was reportedly telling his hostel-mates frantically that he was not "gay".

Already the internal probe committee has suggested immediate rustication of four students due to their involvement in the matter.

It has also suggested that the JU authorities should lodge FIRs against the six former students who were present at the students’ hostel at the time of the accident.

It also recommended suspension of 15 students for one semester, 11 students for two semesters, and five for four semesters.

A research scholar associated with the university should be barred from entering the campus for life after the completion of his research, it suggested.

The committee also said that a thorough inquiry should be initiated against the Superintendent of the main students’ hostel where the incident took place on August 10, especially on complaints of negligence on his part. If the complaints are found justified, disciplinary action should be initiated against him, it said.