Jadavpur University Not Political Battlefield, Students Must Be Heard: Calcutta High Court In Plea Against Ragging, Admin Lapses

In a plea challenging alleged administrative lapses and lack of security measures which led to the death of a first-year student due to ragging in Jadavpur University, the Calcutta High Court has observed that it is imperative to hear representatives of the student bodies.

In directing for the students to be added as parties to the PIL and observing that a University Campus could not be turned into a 'political battlefield', a division-bench of CJ TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya observed:

"Students must be heard. We will make them understand that you need to be proud to be alumni of this university. After 15 years, when they call you for alumni meet, they should come back with pleasant memories, not with horrific ones. They are young minds and will understand. It is not as if one becomes a senior and torture the junior. We are confident it can happen. Every institution has a bad patch, things will change and improve. You cannot convert this into a political battle. No political party can be allowed inside the campus. Any form of peaceful protest cannot be stopped but one that causes inconvenience to the public will have to be regulated. Police have enough powers to regulate such protests. Let the students be made party to these proceedings and matter be taken up on 5^th September after affidavits have been filed."

On an earlier occasion, Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay appearing for the petitioner had mentioned the PIL, urging for measures such as campus-wide installation of CCTV cameras, increasing floodlights in the campus, mandatory RFID cards for teaching and non-teaching staff, etc.

Bandyopadhyay highlighted that the culture in these universities was such that, “yesterday’s junior, turns into today’s dada- meaning a kind of mafia, and tortures his juniors.” The senior counsel submitted that such incidents had occurred previously also, some 10-15 years ago.

At the outset, the Bench was of the opinion that such a matter would need to be sorted out by the University, and that it was unfortunate that it had assumed a nature of criminality.

Questioning whether the hostel premises could be shut down altogether before an administrative solution could be arrived at, the Bench considered the difficulty that may be faced by out-station students, as pointed out by Advocate Soumya Majumder appearing for Jadavpur University, and opined that a decision could only be made after hearing the students.

It was submitted by Advocate General SN Mookerjee that ragging was an endemic problem in most top engineering colleges in the country, and assured the bench that the police had initiated action against the students accused, as well as those who were obstructing the police’s investigation,

The matter has been listed on 5^th September.

Case: Sudip Raha v Jadavpur University & ors

Coram: CJ TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya