Assam Engineering College

Sept. 11: The magisterial probe into the death of Assam Engineering College student Madhurjya Barukial found it to be a case of accidental drowning and did not find any ragging angle, Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Ashutosh Agnihotri today said.

The All Assam Students’ Union, however, rejected the report and demanded a judicial inquiry as the student’s family alleged that he had died because of ragging.

“The probe is complete and according to the report, it was a case of accidental drowning. The probe did not find anything about ragging angle,” Agnihotri told this correspondent today.

Madhurjya, a computer science student of the college at Jalukbari, drowned on August 10 when he, along with a few others, were reportedly bathing in a pond on the college campus. His body was recovered the next day. Madhurjya was the son of Roni Prasad Barukial, a farmer at Na Pamua village under Kamargaon police station in Upper Assam’s Golaghat district.

Madhurjya’s death sparked protests after his family suspected that he died because of ragging and questioned how could he go near the water as he did not know how to swim. The family said Madhurjya had entered the hostel six days ago and alleged that he was forced to get into the pond by his seniors.

Following his family’s suspicion of ragging and appeal for probe into the incident, the Kamrup (metro) district administration had instituted a magisterial probe to ascertain the cause of Madhurjya’s death. Executive magistrate Nibedita Laskar was asked to probe the death and submit its report to the district administration. Laskar submitted her report to Agnihotri in the last week of August.

Asked about how the student went to the pond as he did not know how to swim, Agnihotri did not divulge contents of the report further and said it had been sent to the state government. “I have already forwarded the report to the state government,” he said.

AASU president Shankar Prasad Rai said the students’ union was unhappy with the magisterial probe as many students of the engineering college had informed them that it was a murder caused by ragging.

“We will step up protests to force the state government to initiate a judicial probe into the incident, identify those responsible for his death and give exemplary punishment. Like his parents, we, too, are confused about how a boy who did not know how to swim got into the pond to take a dip,” Rai told this correspondent.

Principal of the college Atul Bora refuted the ragging angle soon after the incident.

Rai demanded that Bora be questioned properly and action initiated against him in accordance with the Supreme Court’s guidelines for ragging. “We also want to ask why there is no warden in the hostel where Madhurjya used to stay,” Rai said.

An eight-member team of AASU on August 23 had met chief secretary Naba Kumar Das seeking a judicial inquiry into the incident.