Legal fee donations: No Main Hostel entry for 15 JU ragging accused
Times of India | 27 September 2024
Kolkata: Jadavpur University (JU) has decided to initiate an inquiry and temporarily debar 15 boarders of Main Hostel for holding a general body (GB) meeting on the night of Sept 8 at the hostel for raising funds from other residents to pay legal fees. The university’s probe committee had found these 15 students guilty in the ragging case of a fresher last Aug and were issued show-cause notices in July this year.
Following the show-cause notice, the students had moved the Calcutta High Court, challenging the university’s decision. “The university authorities have decided to initiate an inquiry against these 15 students and temporarily debar them from the hostel till the investigation is completed to maintain transparency. The letters have been sent to the hostel super,” said a senior JU official, adding the university took legal advice before finalising this decision.
A boarder at Main Hostel said, “The general body meeting was called by the ragging-accused students on the night of Sept 8 to raise funds to pay fees for their lawyer. Around 60 students from A1, A2, C and D blocks attended the meeting, where the accused students told us they would have to pay Rs 2.5 lakh as the legal fee for their lawyer and that they had already raised Rs 1.5 lakh. They asked us to contribute for the remaining Rs 1 lakh.” The boarder added, “A majority of students in the hostel refused to contribute as those 15 are guilty of ragging inside the hostel.”
According to the anti-ragging squad report, the 15 students were recommended semester-suspension, ranging from four to one.
A section of students questioned the meeting and staged a sit-in demonstration at Aurobindo Bhavan from Wednesday, demanding that the authority take action. “The interim VC told us the 15 ragging-accused students would be temporarily debarred from the hostel till the inquiry is completed and letters have been sent to the hostel super,” said a UG student, Indranuj Ray.
JU implemented punishment for 17 ragging accused but action could not be implemented against 15 of them as the case is sub judice.