The state government on Wednesday promised Calcutta High Court that an FIR will be lodged on the basis of an email that Indranuj Roy, the Jadavpur University student allegedly hit by education minister Bratya Basu’s car, sent police from his hospital bed.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh was hearing a PIL alleging that the police registered multiple FIRs but none based on complaints of the injured students.
The judge stopped short of passing a formal direction after state advocate-general Kishore Datta submitted that Indranuj’s email would be “acted upon immediately”.
“You, as a state, must behave like a guardian,” the judge said.
Justice Ghosh also asked the state to file a “comprehensive report on the series of events” at the university on Saturday. He expressed concern that a crowd could come so close to a minister, a “constitutional authority” with a security cover.
“I don’t want a cluster in the close vicinity, as it is happening in the neighbouring country.... Agitations will be there. But under the garb of agitation, coming to the close proximity of a constitutional authority and physical manhandling is not acceptable,” the judge said, alluding to the violent students’ movement in Bangladesh.
“The learned advocate- general submits that the police... would act on the email of March 2, 2025, submitted by one Indranuj Roy, who has suffered injuries and addressed the officer in charge of Jadavpur police station, requesting him to lodge an FIR.... I direct the state to prepare a comprehensive report on the series of events that took place on Saturday (March 1),” Justice Ghosh said in open court.
On March 1, minister Basu visited the campus to attend a meeting of teachers owing allegiance to the pro-Trinamool West Bengal College and University Professors Association (WBCUPA). A section of students barracked and then barricaded the minister, demanding immediate talks on the resumption of student elections. They climbed onto his car and smashed the windshield.
Indranuj, one of the students clinging to Basu’s car, was flung away as it picked up speed. Some students have been accused of arson in the violence that followed on the campus.
At least seven FIRs related to the issue have been filed till now, the police have said. “Two were filed suo motu by the police and the rest on the basis of specific complaints by individuals other than the police”, said a police source.
In the court on Wednesday, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, a lawyer for the petitioner, alleged that the police were biased in lodging the FIRs.
“These FIRs were all concocted, manufactured. Seven FIRs were lodged based on the complaints of those who were guilty. All these complaints have been made by people who are against students. When the injured students complained, no FIR was registered. Our prayer is that an FIR should be recorded based on our complaint,” he said.
Advocate-general Datta, appearing for the state, said the students’ complaint was signed by several persons but there was no phone number or address. “The complaint does not disclose the particulars of the persons lodging the complaint. What is the first thing I should do? Ascertain their details,” he said. The police had sought details about the complainants from the university, he said.
Justice Ghosh asked if there was an “intelligence failure” on Saturday.
“This will spread like an epidemic throughout West Bengal. Crowd management will be a problem. You declare someone as a person with X, Y or whatever level of security. There must be a distance between the rest... and that person with security. If there is a defiance by the person under security, that must be recorded. Otherwise, it will be the onus of the security agency.... We must reintroduce discipline among citizens. The election year is coming,” he said.
He listed the matter for hearing on March 12.
Gate security plea
A division bench headed by Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam on Monday declined immediate intervention in a PIL that sought that security at the gates of JU be handed over to “the state”.
A private agency hired by the university is not up to the job, the petitioner contended. The police cannot enter the campus without a nod from the JU administration, he said.
“What is the power vested with the government under the statute (under which the university was created)? Let them exercise that power. We are not here to tell them how to exercise that power,” the chief justice told petitioner Arka Das.
Das had sought an urgent hearing. But the chief justice said the matter should come up in its “normal course”.