JU's acting VC under pressure as wife fears for his safety, reflects on Gopal Sen’s brutal murder
Telegraph | 7 March 2025
The murder of vice-chancellor Gopal Chandra Sen on the Jadavpur University campus by suspected Naxalites is haunting the family of the incumbent acting vice-chancellor of the varsity, the VC’s wife said on Wednesday.
Sen was beaten and stabbed to death by students on the campus on December 30, 1970.
Keya Gupta, a doctor and wife of Bhaskar Gupta, JU’s interim VC, said she preferred that her husband resign from the position if the present state of “lawlessness” continued and if students issued a deadline for a VC to come to the campus.
She also called the students’ behaviour acts of “lumpens”.
“We are haunted by what had happened to Gopal Chandra Sen. He was killed brutally on the Jadavpur University campus. My father-in-law, Arun Gupta, was the registrar of JU when Sen was the VC,” Keya told this newspaper on Wednesday.
“I have heard how Sen’s wife would come to my father-in-law’s home and break down, the kind of torment the family had to go through,” she said.
“I do not want Bhaskar to have the same fate as Sen,” she said.
Sen, a professor of mechanical engineering, was appointed JU’s acting VC in August 1970, at the height of the violent Naxalite movement that rocked Bengal.
December 30, 1970, was the last day of Sen’s tenure as acting VC. As he was walking back to his quarters, he was attacked near the central library by five assailants who were armed with iron rods, sticks and knives. He was stabbed several times.
Keya told Metro on Wednesday she “would prefer Bhaskar quit if this kind of lawlessness continues on the campus”.
“If students can issue a deadline to a vice-chancellor to come to the university, he should quit. It is not possible to continue under such pressure,” she said.
Bhaskar, a professor of electronics and telecommunication engineering, was appointed acting VC of JU in April 2024.
A section of JU students has been squatting on the porch of Aurobindo Bhavan, which has the VC’s office, since Monday. They demanded that Bhaskar come to the university by 4pm on Wednesday and hold a dialogue with the protesting students. Bhaskar was admitted to hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
On March 1, Bhaskar said he failed to understand why the students were trying to disrupt the West Bengal College and University Professors Association (WBCUPA) meeting.
“The organisation was holding its meeting after taking permission from the university authorities. I could not understand why the students had to meet the minister today. They could submit a memorandum to him containing their demands later. How could the minister meet 40 students on the campus on Saturday to discuss their demands?” Bhaskar had told Metro.
Keya said on Wednesday she feared her husband’s friends on the campus would not be able to save him if he was attacked.
“I have friends who are doctors in the hospital. I know they would be able to treat him and make him fit soon, but I cannot say that Bhaskar’s friends on the campus will be able to save him if he is attacked,” she said.