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New Delhi: Buddhadeb Sau was appointed the officiating vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University by West Bengal CV Ananda Bose amid a row over the death of a student due to alleged ragging. Buddhadeb Sau is a professor in the varsity’s Department of Mathematics. Bose, also the chancellor of the varsity, issued orders authorising Sau to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the vice-chancellor with immediate effect, officials said.
The varsity, which is without a full-time vice-chancellor since June, is at the eye of a storm over the death of a student at its hostel allegedly due to ragging.
The first-year undergraduate student died after falling from the second-floor balcony of the varsity’s main hostel on August 9. His family alleged he was a victim of ragging.
The tenure of the varsity’s last full-time vice-chancellor Suranjan Das, who served for nine years, ended on May 31. Following that, Bose appointed Amitabha Datta, the pro-VC of the varsity, as the officiating vice-chancellor but he resigned on August 4. Datta had resigned after being asked by the governor.
Kolkata Police commissioner Vineet Goyal on Saturday questioned some of the past and present students of Jadavpur University arrested in connection with the recent death of a first-year student, according to news agency PTI. Goyal spoke to a former student, the first to be arrested in this case, and three students at Lalbazar, the city police headquarters, they said.
The first accused, who did his MSc in mathematics in 2022, was questioned about the last moments before the death of the teen, officials said. On Friday, police had reconstructed the crime scene to understand what exactly happened in the hostel on the night of August 9, when the first-year student fell from a balcony after being allegedly mentally tortured and sexually harassed.
The three students arrested on Friday night were sent to 12 days police custody on Saturday, a police official said, adding so far 12 persons have been arrested in this case.
Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said the Jadavpur University campus, where a first-year undergraduate student died last week after being allegedly ragged and sexually harassed by seniors, needs to be freed of “anti-national elements”.
The leader of the opposition, who along with other party MLAs met the family of the 17-year-old boy in Nadia district, also said they would demand that Education Minister Bratya Basu table an action taken report on the incident in the assembly.
“We are with the family and will help them in whichever way they want. What has happened is unfortunate, but the state administration cannot escape responsibility,” Adhikari said.
He also hit out at the ultra-left student unions at JU, a day after members of one of such organisations, All India Revolutionary Students Federation (AIRSF) and the BJP Yuva Morcha clashed outside the varsity where Adhikari had gone to address a public meeting.
Adhikari on Friday also lodged a police complaint alleging a “premeditated attack” on him by the ultra-Left outfit. “The anti-national forces need to be ousted from the JU campus. This anarchy cannot be tolerated. What has happened is completely anarchic and unacceptable. Next week when the assembly session resumes, we will force Education Minister Bratya Basu to table the action taken report in the assembly,” the BJP leader said.
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