Jadavpur University on Monday announced stricter security measures on campus, following the death of third-year English honours student Anamika Mondal.
From now on, production of identity cards will be mandatory at all gates between 7pm and 7am and all water bodies on campus will be fenced.
It is suspected that Anamika fell into an unfenced water body near the arts faculty students’ union room on September 11.
Another water body along the boundary near Jadavpur station, where a former architecture student drowned in March 2023, remains partially unfenced on one side.
The university also plans to install more lights, addressing concerns over poorly lit areas around the water bodies. Many on the campus said the passage near where Anamika died lacked lighting.
“The security at the gates will be strengthened. Security guards will undergo training,” said JU’s acting registrar, Indrajit Banerjee.
Cars entering campus must now display university-issued stickers. Gate No. 5 will remain open only from 9am to 6pm, Banerjee added.
English professor Manojit Mandal, the state higher education council’s nominee to the university’s executive council, wrote to the pro-vice-chancellor on Monday seeking an independent probe into Anamika’s death.
Mandal wrote: “Can the university remain entirely silent about the administrative or glaring security lapses that might have led to the death?”
A JU official said the university on Monday decided to “strictly enforce” rules that had been repeatedly issued but never properly implemented. “Even after Anamika’s death, the university couldn’t summon the courage to require students to show identity cards between 7am and 7pm,” the official added.
When asked why ID card checks were not mandatory from 7am to 7pm, acting registrar Banerjee said: “The administrative committee decided what it deemed fit.”
A security guard expressed doubts about the effectiveness of training without proper authority. “Even if we insist on ID cards, some students misbehave and confine university officials in protest. Eventually, the administration yields, making the rules ineffective,” he said.
A meeting on security measures, including student participation, is tentatively scheduled for September 19.
However, a JU official expressed scepticism: “We dread these meetings. Student representatives often oppose rules citing infringement on their private space. Ultimately, nothing changes.”