Jadavpur University does not want a police outpost on the campus, the vice-chancellor said.
“We don’t want a police outpost on the campus. We have some principal objections to the proposal. The university will definitely install more CCTV cameras on the campus and will appoint more security personnel to strengthen security,” Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said while speaking to Metro on Friday.
“We are not okay with the idea of a permanent police posting on the campus,” he added.
In March, Kolkata Police wrote to the university seeking space to set up a permanent outpost on the campus, days after a section of students harassed and heckled education minister Bratya Basu when he went there to attend a programme.
The police had sought a space of 4,000 square feet near Gate No. 4.
Until October, the university maintained that it would not be able to decide on the matter till it gets a full-term VC.
The new VC, Bhattacharjee, said: “A police outpost on the campus is not desirable at all.”
On Friday, Calcutta High Court set a week’s deadline for the university and the state government to state when the CCTV cameras will be installed and the security personnel appointed.
A JU official said the university has to firm up its stand on the police outpost at a meeting of the university’s executive council, its highest decision-making body.
“What the VC has said is his personal opinion. The university’s stand on the issue has to be decided at the council meeting,” the JU official said.
On March 12, the officer in charge of the Jadavpur police station wrote to the university’s registrar that they wanted the outpost to “maintain a safe and secure environment... for smooth academic activities”.
A JU official stated that, although there have been several instances where the police have had to intervene in JU matters, many at the varsity were opposed to police presence on the campus.
JU had informed the state human rights commission in August 2023 that, though there was no administrative order disallowing the entry of the police on the campus, the cops’ entry in 2005 and 2014 had triggered “large-scale demonstrations”.
In the aftermath of the death of a first-year student at JU’s main hostel in August 2023 following alleged ragging, the rights panel wrote to the then JU registrar: “On what circulars/orders/law provisions, police/PS are disallowed to enter JU campus on a regular basis to check the delinquents, criminal activities and prevent them?”
The police action on the campus on the night of September 16, 2014, triggered the Hok Kolorob movement, leading to four-and-a-half months of sustained student unrest that culminated with the resignation of then VC Abhijit Chakrabarti.
A JU official said: “Considering all these developments, the VC might be opposed to the idea of setting up a police outpost on the campus. He was a student here. He is a professor here. Before becoming the VC, he served JU as registrar, dean, and pro-vice-chancellor. He knows the pulse of the campus.”
In a report to Calcutta High Court on November 10, the state government said the deputy commissioner of police (South Suburban Division) will conduct a security audit of JU.