Mita Mukherjee

Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Jadavpur University authorities to ensure that students leave the campus and hostels within 24 hours of completion of their final examinations.

The bench comprising Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmoy Bhattacharya asked the university authorities to ensure that a notification is issued in this regard.

The order was passed by the court while hearing a PIL on the death of a first-year student of the university, who was allegedly thrown from the second-floor balcony of the Main Hostel on the night of August 9 after being subjected to extensive ragging. He died at a nearby hospital on the morning of August 10.

The court directed Jadavpur University to conduct a thorough room to room inspection of all its hostels to find out how many pass-out students were still staying in the hostels.

A number of former students who were continuing to stay in the hostels after completing the courses were found involved in the ragging that led to the death of the first-year student at Jadavpur University. Twelve students including some former students have been arrested by the police in connection with the death of the 17-year old student.

The court on Tuesday also ordered the West Bengal government to immediately constitute anti-ragging committees in colleges and universities in the state.

The bench issued the orders following complaints received by the court that the recommendations of RK Raghavan committee to prevent ragging on campuses have not been implemented in the state. The guidelines recommended by the Raghavan committee in 2009 were also validated by the Supreme Court.

“The grievance in the instant PIL is that the State is yet to implement the recommendations made by the Raghavan Committee. Be that as it may, we direct the State to forthwith constitute Anti-ragging Committees in all the educational institutions. The State is further ordered to immediately conduct Students’ Union elections in all the universities,” the Court ordered.

The court also directed the state government to ensure that immediate measures are taken to conduct the students’ union elections in the institutions. The petitioners’ lawyer, Trinamul Congress MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, alleged that former students at Jadavpur University continue to roam around on the campus and occupy the hostels.

He also alleged that despite the students’ unions being defunct, their office bearers continued to issue statements in the media about the affairs of the university.

Hearing this, the bench ordered that such students should be refrained from these acts and only the existing students can speak their grievances, if they have any.

Also read: Bengal: Education department allocates 37 Lakh for Jadhavpur University CCTV cameras