Caught fudging marks, JU engg students seek amnesty, gherao VC
Times of India | 25 February 2025
123 Kolkata: A section of students from the Jadavpur University engineering faculty gheraoed interim vice-chancellor Bhaskar Gupta on Monday, demanding to be declared successful for the paper they had failed so that they could avail of government scholarships.
These students, who were pursuing their second year in the engineering faculty, tampered with marksheets where they failed a subject, mostly in mathematics, and uploaded fake marksheets on the portal of the higher education department. The department noticed these tampering during the verification.
Officials from Bikash Bhavan informed the university about it, and said that punitive action should be taken against those students and cancelled their scholarships. THe students' unrest started thereafter.
On Monday afternoon, around 40 students from the engineering faculty staged a protest in front of the vice-chancellor's office, demanding to be declared successful. However, Gupta made it clear that no such ‘inappropriate' demand would be entertained.
Speaking to TOI, Gupta said, "I am surprised how these students could come with a demand when they made a criminal offence. I was asked by the higher education department to take punitive action against these students, but I told them that I will not take any action against them because I believe they will realise their fault."
He added, "I've never experienced such a kind of student movement before. This is not a student movement at all. I am ready to get stuck inside the office as long as they wish to gherao me, but there is no question of accepting such a demand where the university's reputation is at stake."
Stay updated with breaking news, bank holidays and upcoming public holidays in march.