Arrested students not to enter campus, hostel till acquitted of charges: Official

In the Executive Council (EC) meeting held at Jadavpur University (JU) on Tuesday, a decision was taken to debar the entry of 12 students, currently held by the police in connection with the death of the first-year undergraduate student, from both campus and hostel till they are exonerated in the case, a university official said on Wednesday.

Out of the 13 students who were arrested, three were booked for obstructing the entry of police on the day of the incident. One accused, Joydip Ghosh was released on bail but two others — Deepshekhar Dutta and Manotosh Ghosh — were granted bail in that particular case but are still in judicial custody for the main case, which is the death of the student.

The report of the internal enquiry committee has been sent to the anti-ragging squad and depending on the decision taken by the squad and anti-ragging committee, it will be placed in front of the EC who in turn will take the final decision and it will be sent to the University Grants Commission (UGC), a source informed.

According to news reports, opinions were placed during the EC meeting to debar 35 students from the main hostel because they were found guilty of ragging the first-year student. However, the meeting had to be cut short because of the deteriorating health condition of certain officials, according to a source. The interim vice-chancellor (V-C) Buddhadeb Sau is yet to announce another date for the meeting.

Besides, the letter by UGC seeking an explanation from the university with regards to implementation of the Anti-Ragging Guidelines 2009 was also taken up for discussion but no final decision was reached.

In continuation with discussions on whether the hybrid mode of classes can be implemented given the current situation of dengue cases in Jadavpur University, Sau has asked each department to deliberate on the matter and inform the administration within 24 hours. Sau, on September 26, said that the medical superintendent proposed that it would be better if the hostels were vacated.

The idea of conducting hybrid classes was also proposed by Governor C V Ananda Bose who is the chancellor of state universities during his meeting with Sau on September 25, according to Raj Bhavan sources.

Deputy mayor and Member Mayor-In-Council (MMIC), Health, Atin Ghosh had conducted a dengue drive on the campus.

During the drive, he said that a vector control team came across mosquito breeding grounds in at least two spots on the campus and dengue mosquito larvae were

also recovered.