A post-graduate student in Jadavpur University’s film studies department lodged a complaint of ragging against a group of engineering students with the university’s anti-ragging committee.

A university official said, the complainant was allegedly locked inside a room in the main hostel, abused and threatened by the other students on Tuesday evening. The complaint was filed the next day.

The university’s anti-ragging committee has started an internal probe.

The complainant had made some posts on social media against the practice of ragging prevalent in the campus and hostel, which he alleged he was forced to take down under threat.

“A complaint has been received and we formed an inquiry committee. The university has zero tolerance towards any kind of abuse. If charges are proved, necessary action will be taken at the earliest,” Bhaskar Gupta, the acting vice-chancellor of JU told the news agency PTI.

The incident reportedly took place in room number 25 of the A2-block in the main hostel.

The university had recently hit the headlines following a ruckus during a visit by the state education minister Bratya Basu who went to attend a meeting called by a pro-Trinamul teachers’ organisation on the afternoon of March 1. The cops had filed cases against some students, while on the prodding of the Calcutta high court separate FIRs were lodged against Basu and another teacher Om Prakash Mishra.

In his complaint, the second-year film studies student said he went to the main hostel (on Prince Anwar Shah Road) when engineering students accosted him.

“On seeing me at the main hostel, two engineering students started shouting expletives at me. Some more students joined them. They accused me of badmouthing the boarders.”

Since a 17-year old JU Bangla honours student fell to his death from the second floor of the university’s main hostel on August 10 2023, following hours of alleged sexual harassment and ragging by his seniors, the complainant had been campaigning against ragging in educational institutes both in the campus and on social media.

"They forced me to write a fresh post on social media apologising for my earlier post. As they dictated, I drafted the lines of the fresh post and put it on social media. Then they allowed me to leave but continued to abuse me using cuss words, demeaning my mother and my family."

The complainant has alleged that one of the tormentors was an accused in the August 2023 ragging case, but was yet to be prosecuted. The cops had arrested 12 students in connection with the death of the 17-year old student.

Following the incident, JU authorities made arrangements for separate accommodation for first-year student boarders in a separate block.

The boarders have accused the complainant of entering the hostel without signing the visitors register.