"I Am Not Feeling Safe": Fresh Ragging Charge Against Jadavpur University Students

A post graduate student of Jadavpur University, which was in the eye of the storm after the death of a fresher due to alleged ragging, on Wednesday levelled harassment charges against some seniors of the boys' main hostel.

The complaints by the arts department student came a week after the university barred the entry of six students who were allegedly involved in the incident that led to the death of the fresher in August. The six were barred from entering the campus indefinitely.

A senior faculty member said the philosophy department post graduate student complained in a mail to the Dean of Arts that he was subjected to various kinds of mental torture and abuses after being tasked by the hostel mess committee with buying essentials from the local market over the size of fish and vegetables.

"I am not feeling safe as I am being subjected to physical gestures and cold glares by some boarders. Neither is it possible for me to carry on my study from outside. Please take me out of the particular block where I stay now and shift (me) to another hostel in the campus," the student added.

JU officiating Vice-chancellor Buddhadeb Sau told PTI, "I have heard it (about the mail by the student). Let the convenor of the anti-ragging committee examine the matter." Expressing concern over the complaint, the Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) general secretary Partha Pratim Roy called for speedy investigation by the university authorities and "prompt, effective steps to eliminate the menace of ragging".

The incident of ragging and subsequent death of an under graduate first-year Bengali student in the same hostel building on August 9 rocked the campus and state. The fresher had fallen off a second-floor balcony of the JU Main Hostel on August 9 after alleged intensive ragging and died at a private hospital the next morning.

A total of 13 people, including six under graduate students, have so far been arrested in connection with the incident. The arrested also included post graduate students and a PhD researcher. The university formed the anti-ragging committee comprising of faculty members, who probed the incident and recommended ways to curb such occurrences.

The move to bar the six students from entering the institute was taken almost two months after the recommendation by the anti-ragging committee of the varsity. All of them are seniors in various under graduate disciplines and are currently in judicial custody in Presidency Jail.

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