A first-year Jadavpur University student on Thursday posted on Facebook how ragging forced him to leave the university’s main hostel, where another first-year student is suspected to have jumped to his death.
The first-year student made the post around Thursday noon, hours after Swapnadeep succumbed to his injuries.
The student wrote: “I come from an underprivileged background and therefore applied for accommodation at JU’s main hostel. The experience of the first two or three nights has left me horrified. Now I am looking for a PG accommodation for which I have to borrow money. This is causing distress.”
The student later told this newspaper he left the hostel on Saturday and is staying with an acquaintance.
“In every tier of society, there are people who love to flex muscles. But it was beyond my imagination that some senior students would do the same in the hostel. You have to be at their beck and call. They did not let me sleep in the name of taking ‘intro’. We heard that the main intro was still due. They have ordered a specific haircut and mandated that we have to enter the hostel by 6pm. I experienced all these for three nights and I am scared,” read his Facebook post, written in Bengali.
“I believe most of the senior residents of the main hostel carry a legacy of standing by others in distress, which the hostel is known for. But for some of them, I lost one of my hostel mates. I would appeal to the sensible senior students so that they take the initiative to end the menace of muscle flexing in the name of ragging….”
The student said the news of Swapnadeep’s death moved him so much that he posted his experience. “I did not know him personally. But I have heard that he was subjected to ragging. It’s time the truth was brought to the fore,” he told The Telegraph.
Many alleged JU has a questionable track record in dealing with ragging complaints.
In August 2013, JU’s anti-ragging committee had suspended a final-year student for two semesters and another for one semester after a junior student lodged a complaint with the UGC’s anti-ragging helpline.
The attempt to enforce the suspension triggered protests, culminating in the resignation of then vice-chancellor Souvik Bhattacharyya.
Bhattacharyya and some other officials had been gheraoed for more than 52 hours by students, who demanded that the suspensions be revoked.
The VC quit on October 21, 2013, a couple of weeks after a meeting of the executive council, JU’s highest decision-making body, allegedly forced him to form a three-member committee to review the punishment.
On Thursday, the JU Teachers’ Association said the authorities have to “immediately take steps so the former students who are staying illegally are thrown out of the hostel”.
“The university has to take legal steps against them,” said the statement signed by association secretary Parthapratim Roy.
“We suspect it is a case of ragging and the former students could be involved (in Swapnadeep Kundu’s death),” he told The Telegaph.