Six students from Jadavpur University have been banned from entering the campus indefinitely after allegedly being involved in the death of a fresher in August. The decision was announced in a notification on November 24 by JU registrar Snehamanju Basu, stating that the students will not be allowed to enter the campus or hostels until they are cleared of all allegations. This move comes almost two months after the university’s anti-ragging committee recommended the ban.
The executive council of the university had approved the recommendation to bar the six students in October, but the notification was only issued recently, without an explanation for the delay. The fresher had fallen off a second-floor balcony of the JU Main Hostel on August 9 after intense ragging and passed away at a private hospital the next morning. The delay in implementing the anti-ragging panel’s recommendations has sparked discontent among the Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association and senior professor Imankalyan Lahiri.
The six students, who are seniors in various UG disciplines, are currently in judicial custody at Presidency Jail. A total of thirteen individuals, including postgraduate students and a PhD researcher who was overstaying in the hostel, have been arrested in connection with the student’s death. English professor Manojit Mondal expressed the opinion that the decision to bar the students should have been made sooner.
