Mita Mukherjee
Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal government to submit a comprehensive report on the series of events in relation to the incident of violence at Jadavpur University on last Saturday during education minister Bratya Basu’s visit to the campus on that day.
The court directed the police to lodge an FIR based on complaints of students injured in the incident.
The state government promised the court that an FIR would be lodged based on the complaint of Indranuj Roy, an injured JU student who was allegedly hit by the minister’s car while he was leaving the campus.
Indranuj clinging to Basu’s car had fallen down when the minister’s car picked up speed and sped away.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh was hearing a PIL alleging that the police registered multiple FIRs but not a single based on students injured in the incident.
Indranuj, the injured student who is undergoing treatment at a private hospital after receiving eye injuries during the incident had emailed to the court seeking judicial intervention.
The judge expressed concern over the potential intelligence failure wondering how a crowd could come so close to a minister a ” constitutional authority” with a security cover.
The judge further said the state must behave like a ” guardian….. I don’t want a cluster on the close vicinity, as it is happening in the neighbouring country…..Agitations will be there. But under it’s garb of agitation, coming to the close proximity of a constitutional authority and physical manhandling is not acceptable,” …. I direct the state to prepare a comprehensive report on the series of events that took place on Saturday (March 1), the judge said.
The judge wanted to know whether the Intelligence reports regarding the assembly of students were communicated to the minister.
On March 1, minister Basu visited the university to attend a meeting of West Bengal College and University Professors’ Association, a ruling Trinamool Congress- backed teachers’ body. When the minister was about to leave, a group of students barricaded his car and demanded him to announce the date of students’ union elections that are pending for nearly five years.
Meanwhile, education minister Bratya Basu on Wednesday went to meet Jadavpur University vice-chancellor Bhaskar Gupta who got admitted to a hospital on a day students had demanded the vice- chancellor to accept their demands one of which is to file an FIR against the education minister.
While leaving the hospital, Basu said the way some students were forcing the VC ignoring his health condition is unimaginable. “The VC is unwell and undergoing treatment in the hospital.Students should behave humanely considering his health condition. He has already suffered stroke once. His health condition is not good. I would like to ask students will they behave the same way with any of their family members …..” the minister said.
