Student Death at Jadavpur University: Ex-Student Arrested; Panel Created To Investigate Hostel Ragging
Police have detained a former Jadavpur University student on suspicion of ragging an 18-year-old lad after the tragic death of Swapnadip Kundu, a first-year Bengali Honours student, yesterday rocked the whole country. After Swapnadip’s father filed a FIR against him, the arrest was done.
According to reports, the culprit, Sourabh Chowdhury, who earned his MSc in mathematics in 2022 and continued to reside in the main dormitory, admitted to his role in the ragging episode when being questioned. He admitted his guilt, and the police detained him.
The authorities said that “Swapnadip’s father Ramprasad Kundu cited the names of a few boarders of the hostel in his police complaint, saying that they were accountable for his son’s murder. As a result, a case has been opened under section 302/34 of the IPC.
Regarding the incident
Swapnadip, an 18-year-old from Nadia’s Bagula, fell from the main hostel building’s second-floor balcony on Wednesday about 11.45 p.m. He died while receiving medical attention at a hospital at 3.40 a.m. on Thursday, according to the police.
He was reportedly heard saying “I am not gay” many times just before he passed away. It’s been verified by a number of other pupils as well.
The corpse of the dead, who had fallen from the balcony, was discovered in an unclothed condition.
Guv appoints retired judge to panel
At an emergency meeting of professors in charge of anti-ragging squads of universities at Raj Bhavan on Friday, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose decided to form a high-level committee headed by a former chief justice and current interim vice chancellor of a university to study the issues and make recommendations to end the ragging menace.
It has also been determined to stop outsiders from entering university and college campuses, which might result in physical violence and intimidation of new students, according to a statement from the Raj Bhavan.
In addition, it was decided to create a high-level committee under the leadership of Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, who is currently the interim vice-chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University and the former Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, “for a thorough study of the issue” and to develop recommendations to end such practices on campus, according to the statement.
How did the university react to this?
After an undergraduate Bengali Honors student, age 18, died after falling from the building’s balcony, Jadavpur University requested all first-year male boarders to temporarily relocate to a different facility.
According to a JU notice released on Thursday, all undergraduate first-year students for the session 2023–24 assigned to the A-1 and A-2 blocks of the main dormitory are urged to temporarily move to the new boys’ hostel within today itself.
“It is additionally announced that, effective immediately, no former students nor outsiders are permitted to reside in the hostels. The names of any passed-out students or outsiders, as the case may be, who do not follow the aforementioned order are to be sent by the hostel superintendents, it was stated.
