Fresh ragging complaint at Jadavpur University

Less than four months after a 17-year old student jumped to death after being subjected to severe ragging, a first-year postgraduate student of Jadavpur University has lodged a complaint of not feeling “safe” on the campus after facing “mental torture and abuse” by some boarders.

 

This is the third complaint of ragging since August when a first year undergraduate student jumped to death from the Main Hostel for boys following ragging by his seniors. Twelve students including six former and six present students in connection with the incident.

 

After the August incident two more students had lodged complaints of ragging on the UGC helpline in October.

 

In the latest incident, the postgraduate student on Wednesday alleged through an email that some of his seniors had abused and tortured him mentally over the quality of food and size of fish and vegetables after he was assigned by the hostel committee to buy “essentials from the local market.” He said in the letter that he was held responsible for the poor quality of food and he had been threatened by the boarders that he would be taught a lesson for his attitude. 

 

“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 out my studies 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 wrote in the complaint.

 

The student studying MA philosophy had been staying in the CD block of the main hostel. He left the hostel a day ago, sources in the university said. He hails from a far away district in Bengal.

 

Buddhadeb Sau, officiating vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University admitted the receipt of the complaint of the fresh ragging. 

 

” We are looking into the matter. The convenor of the anti-ragging committee is examining the complaint. The university will take appropriate action against the culprits if the allegation is found true, the vice- chancellor said.

 

Partha Pratim Roy, general secretary of Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association said that incidents of ragging are taking place on the campus even after the ” tragic” death of the 17- year old student because the authorities have failed to take concrete measures to stop the menace.

 

“We have been repeatedly urging the officiating vice-chancellor to take a tough stand on the ragging issue. But instead of doing that, he had been protecting the culprits. We cannot stop ragging if we don’t deal with these complaints seriously,” Roy told EducationWorld.