• Source:PTI
Add as a preferred

The inquiry committee formed by Jadavpur University to probe into the circumstances leading to the death of a 17-year-old student has concluded that the victim was singled out for severe pre-planned ragging.

The 17-year-old student, who was a first-year undergraduate student of Bengali honours at the prestigious Jadavpur University, lost his life after falling from the second-floor balcony of the main boys’ hotel on August 9. The family of the boy alleged that he was the victim of ragging.

The deceased student was a resident of Bagula in the Nadia district of West Bengal.

The inquiry committee in its report submitted to the authorities that there are two possibilities for his death including ‘a case of abetted incident and a case of homicide’.

The investigation panel, whose members visited the hostel and spoke with stakeholders, could not say in its report the reasons behind the student's ‘tragic fall’ that resulted in his death, as reported by news agency PTI.

In connection with the death of a student, as many as 13 people, all of whom were previous or current students and boarders at the hostel, were arrested.

As it seems, he (the victim) was singled out for ragging, which was carried out in a systematic planned manner, having deliberately isolating him for severe ragging, while the rest of his batch-mates were far from him attending a hostel general body meeting," the probe panel’s report read.

According to the report, the first-year undergraduate student in the Bengali department was ragged in phases on that evening.

At around 6.30 p.m., the student was led to a room with 6-7 other freshers by one of the main accused and forced to shout "highly objectionable, sexist, and abusive" comments at the female occupants of the neighbouring police quarters. He burst into tears after being forced to obey the demands.

The report mentioned that the next phase of ragging took place in another room, between 9 pm and 10:45 pm, where the student was forced to sign a complaint letter addressed to the Dean of Students, allegedly drafted by seniors, against a day scholar of the Department of Bangla, in the presence of nearly 12-15 boarders.

"Information regarding the subsequent movements, just prior to his fatal fall, is rather uncertain and vague, as none of the witnesses gave a clear-cut description of the incident, which could help in ascertaining the cause and sequence of the mishap.” The committee is of the view that the minor was “severely abused sexually too”, the report said.

“A large number of them found the victim lying on the road adjacent to the A-2 block in a naked condition in supine position. At that time the victim was found profusely bleeding from nostrils, ears and mouth and possibly from the back of the head,” it further said.

According to the investigation, the planned isolation and subsequent ragging of the youngster was a well thought of act of cruelty, as reported by PTI.

(With Inputs From PTI)